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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/19391-0.txt b/19391-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9b8253c --- /dev/null +++ b/19391-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4281 @@ +Project Gutenberg's A Truthful Woman in Southern California, by Kate Sanborn + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Truthful Woman in Southern California + +Author: Kate Sanborn + +Release Date: September 27, 2006 [EBook #19391] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A TRUTHFUL WOMAN *** + + + + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + + + + + +A TRUTHFUL WOMAN IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA + +BY KATE SANBORN + +AUTHOR OF ADOPTING AN ABANDONED FARM, ETC. + +NEW YORK +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY +1906 + +COPYRIGHT, 1893, +BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. + + + + +CONTENTS. + +CHAPTER PAGE + + I.--HINTS FOR THE JOURNEY + II.--AT CORONADO BEACH + III.--SAN DIEGO + IV.--EN ROUTE TO LOS ANGELES + V.--LOS ANGELES AND ROUND ABOUT + VI.--PASADENA + VII.--CAMPING ON MOUNT WILSON +VIII.--CATCHING UP ON THE KITE-SHAPED TRACK + IX.--RIVERSIDE + X.--A LESSON ON THE TRAIN + XI.--SANTA BARBARA + XII.--HER CITY AND COUNTY +XIII.--IN GALA DRESS + XIV.--AU REVOIR + + + + +A Truthful Woman in Southern California + +CHAPTER I. + +HINTS FOR THE JOURNEY. + + + The typical Forty-niner, in alluring dreams, grips the Golden + Fleece. + + The _fin-de-siècle_ Argonaut, in Pullman train, flees the Cold and + Grip. + + _En Sol y la Sombra_--shade as well as sun. + +Yes, as California is. I resolve neither to soar into romance nor drop +into poetry (as even Chicago drummers do here), nor to idealize nor +quote too many prodigious stories, but to write such a book as I needed +to read before leaving my "Abandoned Farm," "Gooseville," Mass. For I +have discovered that many other travellers are as ignorant as myself +regarding practical information about every-day life here, and many +others at home may know even less. + +So let me say that California has not a tropical, but a semi-tropical +climate, and you need the same clothing for almost every month that is +found necessary and comfortable in New York or Chicago during the +winter. + +Bring fur capes, heavy wraps, simple woolen dresses for morning and +outdoor life; and unless rolling in wealth, pack as little as possible +of everything else, for extra baggage is a curse and will deplete a +heavy purse,--that rhymes and has reason too. I know of one man who paid +$300 for extra baggage for his party of fifteen from Boston to Los +Angeles. + +Last year I brought dresses and underwear for every season, and for a +vague unknown fifth; also my lectures, causing profanity all along the +line, and costing enough to provide drawing-room accommodations for the +entire trip. + +Why did I come? Laryngitis, bronchitis, tonsilitis, had claimed me as +their own. Grip (I will not honor it with a foreign spelling, now it is +so thoroughly acclimated and in every home) had clutched me twice--nay, +thrice; doctors shook their heads, thumped my lungs, sprayed my throat, +douched my nose, dosed me with cough anodynes and nerve tonics, and +pronounced another winter in the North a dangerous experiment. Some of +you know about this from personal experience. Not a human being could I +induce to join me. If this hits your case, do not be deterred; just come +and be made over into a joyous, healthful life. I would not urge those +to take the tedious journey who are hopelessly consumptive. Home is the +best place for such, and although I see many dragging wearily along with +one lung, or even half of that, who settle here and get married and +prolong existence for a few years, and although some marvellous cures +have been effected, still I say the same. + +And what is to be put in the one big trunk? Plenty of flannels of medium +thickness, a few pretty evening dresses, two blouses, silk and woolen or +velvet for morning wear, with simple skirts, a gossamer, rubbers, thick +boots for long tramps and excursions, parasol, umbrella, soft hat to +shade the face, and gloves for all sorts of occasions. I do not venture +to suggest anything for men, they travel so sensibly. The more +experienced one is, the less he carries with him. + +So do not load up with portfolio and portable inkstand, your favorite +stationery, the books that delighted your childhood or exerted a +formative influence upon your character in youth. Deny yourself and +leave at home the gold or silver toilet set, photograph album, family +Bibles, heavy fancy work, gilded horseshoe for luck, etc. I know of +bright people who actually carried their favorite matches from an +eastern city to Tacoma, also a big box of crackers, cheese, pickles, and +preserved fruits, only to find the best of everything in that brilliant +and up-with-the-times city. One old lady brought a calla-lily in a pot! +When she arrived and saw hedges and fields of lilies, hers went out of +the window. Another lady from Boston brought a quart bottle of the +blackest ink, only to spill it all upon a new carpet at Santa Barbara, +costing the boarding-house keeper thirty-five dollars. Everything that +one needs can be purchased all along the way, from a quinine capsule to +a complete outfit for any occasion. + +As to the various ways of coming here, I greatly prefer the Southern +Pacific in winter, and Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé in spring or summer. +Either will take you from New York to San Diego and return for $137, +allowing six months' stay. The "Phillips Excursion" will take you from +Boston to San Francisco for fifty-five dollars. But in this case the +beds are hard, and you provide your own meals. Some try the long voyage, +twenty-three days from New York to San Francisco. It is considered +monotonous and undesirable by some; others, equally good judges, prefer +it decidedly. + +I believe in taking along a loose wrapper to wear in the cars, +especially when crossing the desert. It greatly lessens fatigue to be +able to curl up cosily in a corner and go to sleep, with a silk +travelling hat or a long veil on one's head, and the stiff bonnet or +big hat with showy plumes nicely covered in its long purse-like bag, and +hanging on a hook above. The sand and alkali ruin everything, and are +apt to inflame the eyes and nose. I find a hamper with strap +indispensable on the train; it will hold as much as a small trunk, yet +it can be easily carried. + +Now imagine you have arrived, very tired, and probably with a cold in +your head, for the close heated cars and the sudden changes of climate +are trying. You may be at The Raymond, and "personally conducted." +Nothing can be better than that. But if you are alone at Los Angeles, or +San Francisco, come straight down to Coronado Beach, and begin at the +beginning--or the end, as you may think it. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +AT CORONADO BEACH. + + +I associate Coronado Beach so closely with Warner (Charles D.), the +cultured and cosmopolitan, that every wave seems to murmur his name, and +the immense hotel lives and flourishes under the magic of his rhetoric +and commendation. Just as Philadelphia is to me Wanamakerville and +Terrapin, so Coronado Beach is permeated and lastingly magnetized by +Warner's sojourn here and what he "was saying." + +But I must venture to find fault with his million-times-quoted adjective +"unique" as it is used. It has been stamped on stationery and menu +cards, and has gone the world over in his volume "Our Italy," and no one +ever visits this spot who has not made the phrase his own. To me it +deserves a stronger word, or series of words. We say a pretty girl has a +"unique" way of dressing her hair, or an author a "unique" way of +putting things. + +But as I look out of my window this glorious morning, and watch the +triple line of foaming waves breaking on the long beach, a silver sickle +in the sunshine; the broad expanse of the Pacific, with distant sails +looking like butterflies apoise; Point Loma grandly guarding the right, +and farther back the mountain view, where snowy peaks can just be +discerned over the nearer ranges; the quiet beauty of the grounds below, +where borders and ovals and beds of marguerites contrast prettily with +long lines and curves of the brilliant marigolds; grass, trees, and +hedges green as June--a view which embraces the palm and the pine, the +ocean and lofty mountains, cultivated gardens and rocky wastes, as I see +all this, I for one moment forget "unique" and exclaim, "How bold, +magnificent, and unrivalled!" Give me a new and fitting adjective to +describe what I see. Our best descriptive adjectives are so recklessly +used in daily life over minute matters, that absolutely nothing is left +for this rare combination. + +As a daughter of New Hampshire in this farthest corner of the southwest, +my mind crosses the continent to the remote northeast and the great +Stone Face of the Franconia Mountains. Chiselled by an Almighty hand, +its rugged brow seamed by the centuries, its features scarred by the +storms of ages, gazing out over the broad land, where centre the hopes +of the human race, who can forget that face, sad with the mysteries of +pain and sorrow, yet inspiring with its rugged determination, and at +times softened with the touch of sunlit hope? + +Point Loma has something of the same sphinx-like grandeur, with its long +bold promontory stretching out into the western waters. These two seem +to be keeping watch and ward over mountain and sea: each appropriate in +its place and equally impressive. There the stern prophet surveying the +home of great beginnings, the cradle of creative energy; and here, its +counterpart, a mighty recumbent lion, its dreamy, peaceful gaze turned +with confidence out over the wide Pacific to the setting sun, with +assurance of ultimate success, a pledge of aspirations satisfied, of +achievements assured, of----Whoa there! Hello! This to my runaway +steeds, Imagination and Sentiment. Brought back by a passing bell-boy, I +shall now keep a tighter rein. + +But when one first breathes the air of California, there is a curious +exaltation and excitement, which leads on irresistibly. This is often +followed by a natural depression, sleepiness, and reaction. But that +view never changes, and I know you will say the same. A florid, +effervescent, rhapsodical style seems irresistible. One man of uncommon +business ability and particularly level head caught the spirit of the +place, and wrote that "the most practical and unpoetical minds, too, +come here and go away, as they afterward gingerly admit, carrying with +them the memory of sunsets emblazoned in gold and crimson upon cloud, +sea, and mountain; of violet promontories, sails, and lighthouses +etched against the orange of a western sky; of moonlight silvering +breeze-rippled breadths of liquid blue; of distant islands shimmering in +sun-lit haze; of sunrises with crowns of glory chasing the vapory, +fleece-like shadows from the wet, irridescent beach, and silhouetting +the fishermen's sails in the opalescent tints of a glassy sea." + +Some temperaments may not be affected at all. But the first morning I +felt like leaping a five-barred fence, and the next like lying down +anywhere and sleeping indefinitely. I met a distinguished Boston artist +recently, who had just arrived. The day was superb. He seemed in a +semi-delirium of ecstasy over everything. His face glowed, his eyes +shone, his hands were full of flowers. He said, "My heart jumps so I'm +really afraid it will jump out of my body." The next morning he was +wholly subdued. It had poured all night, and the contrast was +depressing. A six-footer from Albany was in the sleepy state. "If I +don't pull out soon," he said, "I shall be bedridden. I want to sleep +after breakfast, or bowling, or bath, or my ride or dinner, and really +long to go to bed by nine." + +There has probably been more fine writing and florid rhetoric about +California than any other State in the Union. + +The Hotel del Coronado is a mammoth hostelry, yet homelike in every +part, built in a rectangle with inner court, adorned with trees, +flowers, vines, and a fountain encircled by callas; color, pure white, +roofs and chimneys red; prevailing woods, oak, ash, pine, and redwood. + +All around the inner court a series of suites of rooms, each with its +own bath and corner sitting-room--literally "a linkèd suiteness long +drawn out." It is one eighth of a mile from my bedroom to my seat in the +dining-room, so that lazy people are obliged to take daily +constitutionals whether they want to or not, sighing midway for trolley +accommodations. The dining-room may safely be called roomy, as it seats +a thousand guests, and your dearest friends could not be recognized at +the extreme end. Yet there is no dreary stretch or caravansary effect, +and to-day every seat is filled, and a dozen tourists waiting at the +door. + +Every recreation of city or country is found in this little world: +thirty billiard-tables, pool, bowling, tennis, polo, bathing (where +bucking barrel-horses and toboggan slides, fat men who produce tidal +waves, and tiny boys who do the heroic as sliders and divers, make fun +for the spectators), hunting, fishing, yachting, rowing, riding to +hounds, rabbit hunts, pigeon shoot, shooting-galleries, driving, +coaching, cards, theatre, ballroom, lectures, minstrels, exhibitions of +the Mammoth and Minute from Yosemite with the stereopticon, to Pacific +sea-mosses, the ostrich farm, the museum or maze for a morning hour, +dressing or undressing for evening display, watching the collection of +human beings who throng everywhere with a critical or humorous eye, +finding as much variety as on Broadway or Tremont Street; +dancing-classes for children; a chaperon and a master of ceremonies for +grown folks; a walk or drive twelve miles long on a smooth beach at low +tide, not forgetting the "dark room" for kodak and camera f--amateurs. + +You see many athletic, fine-looking men, who ride daringly and ride to +kill. Once a week the centre of the office is filled with game: +rabbits, quail, snipe, ducks, etc., everything here--but an undertaker. +And old Ocean eternally booming (the only permanent boom I know of in +Southern California). + +And that is what you see and hear at the Hotel del Coronado. The summer +climate is better than the winter--never too warm for comfort, the +mercury never moving for weeks. I expected constant sunshine, a +succession of June's fairest days, which would have been monotonous, to +say nothing of the effect upon crops and orchards. The rainy season is +necessary and a blessing to the land-owners, hard as it is for "lungers" +and the nervous invalids who only feel well on fine days and complain +unreasonably. + +Ten inches is the average needed just here. Rain is rainy and wet +weather is wet, but the ground dries as soon as the pelting shower is +over. I do not find the raw, searching dampness of our Eastern seashore +resorts. Here we are said to have "dry fogs" and an ideal marine +atmosphere, but it was too cold for comfort during the March rains for +those not in robust health. + +As I sit in the upper gallery and watch the throng issuing from the +dining-room, I make a nice and unerring social distinction between the +Toothpick Brigade who leave the table with the final mouthful +semi-masticated, and those who have an air of finished contentment. + +The orchestra is unusually good, giving choice selections admirably +executed. I have not decided whether music at meals is a blessing or +otherwise. If sad, it seems a mockery; if gay, an interruption. For one +extremely sensitive to time and tune it is difficult to eat to slow +measures. And when the steak is tough and a galop is going on above, it +is hard to keep up. + +Among the many fleeting impressions of faces and friends here, one or +two stand out clearly and indelibly--stars of the first magnitude in the +nebulæ--as dear Grandma Wade from Chicago, the most attractive old lady +I ever met: eighty-three years old, with a firm step, rotund figure, and +sweet, unruffled face, crowned with the softest snow-white curls, on +which rests an artistic cap trimmed with ribbons of blue or delicate +heliotrope, and small artificial flowers to match. I have known several +interesting octogenarians, but never one that surpassed her in +loveliness, wit, and positive jollity. Her spontaneous fun is better +than the labored efforts of many a famous humorist. + +She still has her ardent admirers among men as well as women, and now +and then receives an earnest proposal from some lonely old fellow. + +The last of these aged lovers, when refused and relegated to the +position of a brother, urged her to reconsider this important matter, +making it a subject of prayer. But she quietly said, "I'm not going to +bother the Lord with questions I can answer myself." When choked by a +bread-crumb at table, she said to the frightened waiter, as soon as she +had regained her breath, "Never mind, if that did go down the wrong way, +a great many good things have gone down the right way this winter." + +She is invariably cheerful, and when parting with her son for the winter +she said, "Well, John, I want to know before I go just what you have +left me in your will!" which little joke changed a tear into a smile. + +Even when ill she is still bright and hopeful, so that a friend +exclaimed, "Grandma, I do believe you would laugh if you were dying;" +and she replied, "Well, so many folks go to the Lord with a long face, I +guess He will be glad to see one come in smiling." + +Oh, how repulsive the artificial bloom, the cosmetics and hair-dyes +which make old age a horror, compared with her natural beauty! God bless +and keep dear Grandma Wade! + +Little "Ted" is another character and favorite, and his letter to his +nurse in New York gives a good idea of how the place affects a bright, +impressionable child. + + "My dear Julia: _It is a dummy near the hotel and it takes five + days to come here and there is an island right beyond the boat + house and they have a pigeon shoot every week. And there is six + hundred people here Julia, one hundred and fifty came yesterday._ + + "_There is a mountin across the river and a house very far away by + itself, Julia. I play in the sand every day of my life, and I take + swimming lessons and I have two oranges. California is the biggest + world in the country and there is a tree very, very far away. Julia + it is a puzzle walk near the hotel, Rose and me went all through it + and Julia, we got our way out easy._" + +He has it all. All the trees are cultivated here, so I looked round for +the one Ted spoke of, and find it lights up at night and revolves for +the aid of the mariners. I think that all Californians echo his +sentiment that "California is the biggest world in the country"; and +compared with the hard work of the New England farmers, what is the +cultivation of orchards but playing in the sand with golden oranges? +Some one says that Californians "irrigate, cultivate, and exaggerate." + +Charles Nordhoff, the veteran journalist and author, lives within sight +of the hotel (which he pronounces the most perfect and charming hotel he +knows of in Europe or America), in a rambling bungalow consisting of +three small cottages moved from different points and made into one. He +believes in California for "health, pleasure, and residence." It is a +rare privilege to listen to his conversation, sitting by his open fire +or at his library table, or when he is entertaining friends at dinner. + +So ends my sketch of Coronado. Coronado! What a perfect word! Musical, +euphonious, regal, "the crowned"! The name of the governor of New +Galicia, and captain-general of the Spanish army, sent forth in 1540 in +search of the seven cities of Cibola. General J. H. Simpson, U. S. A., +has written a valuable monograph on "Coronado's March," which can be +found in the Smithsonian Report for 1869. + +I intend to avoid statistics and history on the one side, and +extravagant eulogy on the other. + +Now we will say good-by to our new friends, take one more look at Point +Loma, and cross the ferry to San Diego. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +SAN DIEGO. + + + "The truly magnificent, and--with reason--famous port of San + Diego."--_From the first letter of Father Junipero in Alto + California._ + +Fifteen cents for motor, ferry, and car will take you to Hotel Florence, +on the heights overlooking the bay, where I advise you to stop. The +Horton House is on an open, sunny site, and is frequented by +"transients" and business men of moderate means. The Brewster is a +first-class hotel, with excellent table. The Florence is not a large +boarding-house or family hotel, but open for all. It has a friendly, +homelike atmosphere, without the exactions of an ultra-fashionable +resort. The maximum January temperature is seventy-four degrees, while +that of July is seventy-nine degrees, and invalid guests at this house +wear the same weight clothing in summer that they do in winter. The +rooms of this house are all sunny, and each has a charming ocean or +mountain view. It is easy to get there; hard to go away. Arriving from +Coronado Beach, I was reminded of the Frenchman who married a quiet +little home body after a desperate flirtation with a brilliant society +queen full of tyrannical whims and capricious demands. When this was +commented on as surprising, he explained that after playing with a +squirrel one likes to take a cat in his lap. Really, it is so restful +that the building suggests a big yellow tabby purring sleepily in the +sunshine. I sat on the veranda, or piazza, taking a sun-bath, in a happy +dream or doze, until the condition of nirvana was almost attained. What +day of the week was it? And the season? Who could tell? And who cares? +Certainly no one has the energy to decide it. Last year, going there to +spend one day, I remained for five weeks, hypnotized by my +environments--beguiled, deluded, unconscious of the flight of time, +serenely happy. Many come for a season, and wake up after five or six +years to find it is now their home. "There seems to exist in this +country a something which cheats the senses; whether it be in the air, +the sunshine, or in the ocean breeze, or in all three combined, I cannot +say. Certainly the climate is not the home-made common-sense article of +the anti-Rocky Mountain States; and unreality is thrown round life--all +walk and work in a dream." + +At Coronado Beach one rushes out after breakfast for an all-day +excursion or morning tramp; here one sits and sits, always intending to +go somewhere or do something, until the pile of unanswered letters +accumulates and the projected trips weary one in a dim perspective. It +is all so beautiful, so new, so wonderful! San Diego is the Naples of +America, with the San Jacinto Mountains for a background and the blue +sunlit bay to gaze upon, and one of the finest harbors in the world. Yet +with all this, few have the energy even to go a-fishing. + +Now, as a truthful "tourist," I must admit that in the winter there are +many days when the sun does not shine, and the rainy season is not +altogether cheerful for the invalid and the stranger. Sunshine, glorious +golden sunshine, is what we want all the time; but we do not get it. I +noticed that during the heavy rains the invalids retired to their rooms, +overcome by the chill and dampness, and some were seriously ill. But +then they would have been in their graves if they had remained in the +East. There are many charming people residing in San Diego, well, happy, +useful, who know they can never safely return to their old homes. + +There has been such a rosy glamour thrown over southern California by +enthusiastic romancers that many are disappointed when they fail to find +an absolute Paradise. + +Humboldt said of California: "The sky is constantly serene and of a deep +blue, and without a cloud; and should any clouds appear for a moment at +the setting of the sun, they display the most beautiful shades of +violet, purple, and green."[1] + +[Footnote 1: Humboldt had never been in Alta California, and procured +this information in Mexico or Spain.] + +Now, after reading that, a real rainy day, when the water leaks through +the roof and beats in at the doors, makes a depressed invalid feel like +a drenched fowl standing forlornly on one leg in the midst of a New +England storm. With snow-covered mountains on one side and the ocean +with its heavy fogs on the other, and the tedious rain pouring down with +gloomy persistence, and consumptives coughing violently, and physicians +hurrying in to attend to a sudden hemorrhage or heart-failure, the scene +is not wholly gay and inspiriting. But when the sun comes forth again +and the flowers (that look to me a little tired of blooming all the +time) brighten up with fresh washed faces, and all vegetation rejoices +and you can almost see things grow, and the waves dance and glitter, and +the mountains no longer look cold and threatening but seem like painted +scenery, _a la_ Bierstadt, hung up for our admiration, and the valleys +breathe the spicy fragrance of orange blossoms, we are once more happy, +and ready to rave a little ourselves over the much-talked-of "bay 'n' +climate." But there are dangers even on the sunniest day. I know a +young physician who came this year on a semi-professional tour, to try +the effects of inhalations on tuberculosis, and it was so delightfully +warm that he straightway took off his flannels, was careless about night +air, and was down with pneumonia. + +The tourist or traveller who writes of San Diego usually knows nothing +of it but a week or two in winter or early spring. + +Southern California has fifty-two weeks in the year, and for two thirds +of this time the weather is superb. + +I can imagine even a mission Indian grunting and complaining if taken to +our part of the country in the midst of a week's storm. We flee from +deadly horrors of climate to be fastidiously critical. If, in midsummer, +sweltering sufferers in New York or Chicago could be transported to this +land they would not hurry away. The heat is rarely above eighty-five +degrees, and nearly always mitigated by a refreshing breeze from the +bay. I am assured that there have not been five nights in as many years +when one or more blankets have not been necessary for comfort. In summer +everything is serene. No rain, no thunder-storms, no hail, or +water-spouts. (The dust pest is never spoken of!) The picnic can be +arranged three weeks ahead without an anxious thought about the weather. +The summer sunsets are marvellously beautiful. + +One must summer and winter here before he can judge fairly, and the +hyper-sensitive should tarry in New Mexico or in the desert until +spring. I believe that rheumatic or neuralgic invalids should avoid the +damp resorts to which they are constantly flocking only to be +dissatisfied. Every sort of climate can be found in the State, so that +no one has the right to grumble. + +Do not take off flannels, although the perspiration does trickle down +the side of your face as you sit in the sun. A fur cape is always needed +to protect one shoulder from a chilling breeze while the other side is +toasted. It is not safe for new-comers to be out-of-doors after four or +five o'clock in the afternoon, nor must they ride in open cars except +in the middle of the day. These innocent diversions give the doctors +their support. + +Bill Nye, with his usual good sense, refused to drive in a pouring rain +to view the scenery and orchards when visiting San Diego in March, and +says: "Orange orchards are rare and beautiful sights, but when I can sit +in this warm room, gathered about a big coal fire, and see miles of them +from the window, why should I put on my fur overcoat and a mackintosh in +order to freeze and cry out with assumed delight every half-mile while I +gradually get Pomona of the lungs?" + +There are many places worth visiting if you can rouse yourselves for the +effort. Point Loma, twelve miles distant, gives a wonderful view, one of +the finest in the world. I warrant you will be so famished on arriving +that you will empty every lunch-basket before attending to the outlook. +National City, Sweet Water Dam, Tia Juana (Aunt Jane), La Jolla--you +will hear of all these. I have tried them and will report. + +The Kimball brothers, Warren and Frank, who came from New Hampshire +twenty-five years ago and devoted their energies to planting orchards of +oranges, lemons, and olives, have made the desert bloom, and found the +business most profitable. You will like to watch the processes of +pickling olives and pressing out the clear amber oil, which is now used +by consumptives in preference to the cod-liver oil. Many are rubbed with +it daily for increasing flesh. It is delicious for the table, but the +profits are small, as cotton-seed oil is much cheaper. Lemons pay better +than oranges, Mr. Kimball tells me. Mrs. Flora Kimball has worked side +by side with her husband, who is an enthusiast for the rights of woman. +She is progressive, and ready to help in every good work, with great +executive ability and a hearty appreciation of any good quality in +others. + +It does not pay to take the trip to Mexico if time is limited, there is +so little of Mexico in it. After leaving the train and getting into an +omnibus, the voluble darkey in charge soon shouts out, "We are now +crossing the line," but as no difference of scene is observed, it is not +deeply impressive. One young fellow got out and jumped back and forth +over the line, so that if asked on his return if he had been to Mexico +he could conscientiously answer, "Oh yes, many times." We were then +taken to the custom-house, where we mailed some hastily scribbled +letters for the sake of using a Mexican stamp,--some preferred it +stamped on a handkerchief. And near by is the curio store, where you +find the same things which are seen everywhere, and where you will +doubtless buy a lot of stuff and be sorry for it. But whatever other +folly you may be led into, let me implore you to wholly abstain from +that deadly concoction, the Mexican _tamale_. Ugh! I can taste mine now. + +A _tamale_ is a curious and dubious combination of chicken hash, meal, +olives, red pepper, and I know not what, enclosed in a corn-husk, +steamed until furiously hot, and then offered for sale by Mexicans in +such a sweet, appealing way that few can resist the novelty. It has a +more uncertain pedigree than the sausage, and its effects are serious. + +A friend of mine tasted a small portion of one late at night. It was +later before she could sleep, and then terrible nightmares intruded upon +her slumber. Next morning she looked so ill and enfeebled, so unlike her +rosy self, that we begged to know the cause. The tale was thrilling. She +thought a civil war had broken out and she could not telegraph to her +distant spouse. The agony was intense. She must go to him with her five +children, and at once. They climbed mountains, tumbled into cañons, were +arrested in their progress by cataracts and wild storms, and even the +hostile Indian appeared in full war-paint at a point above. This awoke +her, only to fall into another horrible situation. An old lover suddenly +returned, tried to approach her; she screamed, "I am now a married +woman!"--he lifted his revolver, and once again she returned to +consciousness and the _tamale_, and brandy, and Brown's Jamaica ginger. +If she had eaten half the _tamale_ the pistol would doubtless have +completed its deadly work. A kind old gentleman of our party bought a +dozen to treat us all. We were obliged to refuse, and it was amusing to +watch him in his endeavor to get rid of them. At last he made several +journeys to the car door, throwing out a few each trip in a solemn way. +He didn't want to hurt the feelings of the natives by casting them all +out at once. + +Sweet Water Dam is a triumph of engineering, one of the largest dams in +the world, holding six million gallons of water, used for irrigating +ranches in Sweet Water Valley; and at La Jolla you will find pretty +shells and clamber down to the caves. There the stones are slippery, and +an absorbing flirtation should be resisted, as the tide often intrudes +most unexpectedly, and in dangerous haste. Besides the caves the +attractions are the fishing and the kelp beds. These kelp beds form a +submarine garden, and the water is so clear that one can see beautiful +plants, fish, etc., at forty or fifty feet below the sea surface--not +unlike the famous sea-gardens at Nassau in the Bahamas. There is a good +hotel, open the year round. + +Lakeside is a quiet inland retreat twenty-two miles from San Diego, +where many go for a little excursion and change of air. The Lakeside +Hotel has seventy large rooms and complete appointments. The table is +supplied with plenty of milk and _real_ cream from their own cows, +vegetables and fruit from the neighboring ranches, game in its season, +shot on the lake near by, and, in the valleys, meats from homegrown +stock. The guests who are not too invalidish often go out for long +drives, never forgetting the lunch-baskets. One day we try the Alpine +stage. Winding across the mesa at the rear of the hotel, we have a +lovely view of the little lake half hidden in the trees, reflecting in +its quiet surface the mountains that rise up beyond it. Gradually +climbing upward, we come to a tract of land that is watered by the +Flume. To our surprise we learn that this is practically frostless, and +that since this has been discovered many young orchards of oranges and +lemons have been planted. The red mesa land on the side-hills will not +be touched by the frosts of a cold night when the valley at its foot +will have enough frost to kill all tender growth. This is a new +discovery, and has placed thousands of acres on the market as suitable +for the culture of citrus fruits. Do you notice how the appearance of +the landscape is changing? The nearer hills are much sharper and +steeper, and their sides are studded by great boulders. There are stone +walls, and here and there are great flocks of sheep. The horses stop of +their own accord at a lovely spot where they are used to getting a drink +of cool spring water. Did any ever taste quite so good as that drunk +from an old dipper after a long warm drive? The live-oaks and sycamores +look too inviting to be resisted, and we get out to explore while the +horses are resting. Underneath the evergreen shade we pick up some of +the large pointed acorns and carry them away as souvenirs. This would be +a delightful spot for a picnic, but we have many miles before us and +must go on. In a few more miles we reach a little town known as +"Alpine." In the distance looms the Viejas, and if any of the party wish +to travel over a grade, now is the opportunity. The top of the grade +brings us to a lovely view. Eastward is an unbroken chain of +mountain-peaks, from whose summits may be seen the broad Pacific on one +side and the Colorado Desert on the other. + +One of the favorite drives is into the Monte. This is a large park or +tract of a thousand acres. On each side the hills rise, and in front El +Cajon shows new beauties with every step of the way. Great live-oaks +with enormous trunks, ancient sycamores, elders, and willows make in +some spots a dense shade. On the edge of the hillsides the Flume may be +seen, which furnishes many ranches as well as the city of San Diego with +the purest mountain water. Underneath the trees and up on the rocks the +lover of flowers and ferns will scramble. There are the dainty +forget-me-nots, tiny flowers of starry white, flowers of pale orange +with centres of deep maroon, the wild galliardia, and the wild peony +with its variegated leaves. Many other delicate blossoms which we cannot +stop to describe are there too. And the ferns! All kinds may be found +by the initiated, and many are close at hand. The fern lined with gold +or with silver, the running ferns, the ferns of lace-like fineness, the +ferns as soft as velvet, all growing in the greatest profusion. And each +day of the week a different drive and new delights. + +There is the valley of El Cajon ("the box"), which should be visited in +grape-picking time. The great Boston ranch alone employs three hundred +and twenty-five pickers. Men, women, children, all busy, and the grapes +when just turned are sweet, spicy, and delicious, making the air +fragrant. This valley is dotted with handsome villas and prosperous +ranches. The range of mountains which looms up before us from the +veranda of the hotel is not yet dignified by a name, yet it is more +imposing than the White Mountains, and in the distance we see old +Cuyamaca, nearly seven thousand feet high. But we must take the next +train for San Diego, or this chapter will be a volume in itself. And I +have not even alluded to the "Great Back Country." + +The founder of San Diego is still living, still hopeful, still young at +heart. "Father" Horton, the typical pioneer, deserves more honors than +he has yet received. Coming from Connecticut to California in 1851, he +soon made a small fortune in mining, buying and selling gold-dust, and +providing the diggers with ice and water for their work. He rode over +the country in those lawless times selling the precious dust disguised +as a poverty-stricken good-for-naught, with trusty revolver always in +his right hand on the pommel of the saddle--the handsome green saddle +covered with an old potato sack. In this way he evaded the very men who +had been on his track for weeks. Once he came near capture. He passed a +bad-looking lot of horsemen, one of whom had a deep red scar the whole +length of his cheek. He got by safely, but one, looking round, +exclaimed, "My God! That's Horton! I see the green saddle." And back +they dashed to kill him and gain his treasure, but he escaped into a +cañon, and they lost their one chance. + +At another time he had $3500 in gold in his belt, and at a tavern of +poor repute he could hear through cracks in the floor of his bedroom the +gamblers below laughing about the old greenhorn above who had his supper +of mush and milk and had asked for a lock on his door. + +Returning East _via_ Panama in 1856, he proved himself a hero and a +soldier during the terrible riot there. The natives, angry because they +had lost the money they used to make in transporting passengers, +attacked the foreigners, killing and plundering all who came in their +way, the police turning traitors and aiding them. The hotel was +attacked, and among all the passengers only three were armed. Mr. Horton +and these two young men stood at the top of the stairs and shot all who +tried to get nearer. When they fell back eight rioters were dead and +others wounded. Then Mr. Horton formed the two hundred passengers in +order and marched them off to a lighter, and put them aboard the +steamer. About half this number wanted to go on to San Francisco, but +had lost all their money and baggage. Mr. Ralston and Mr. Horton helped +many to pay their passage, but not one person was ever heard of again, +not one cent was returned, not even one word of gratitude or good +intentions. + +Up to the period which is known as the boom of 1870-71, the history of +San Diego was so interwoven and closely connected with the life of Mr. +Horton that the story of one is inseparable from that of the other. + +When Mr. Horton came from San Francisco to see the wonderful harbor +described by friends, there was nothing there but two old buildings, the +barren hillsides, and the sheep pastures. + +His gifts to the city and to individuals amount to a present valuation +of over a million of dollars. Of the nine hundred acres of land which he +originally bought (a part of the Mexican grant) at twenty-seven cents an +acre, he owns but little. + +But it is to his common sense, foresight, and business ability that the +present city owes much of its success; and it is interesting to hear him +tell of exciting adventures in "Poker Flat," and other places which Bret +Harte has worked up so successfully. + +Lieut. George H. Derby is amusingly associated with "Old Town," the +former San Diego, three miles from the present city. He had offended +Jefferson Davis, then Secretary of War, by his irreverent wit, and was +punished by exile to this then almost unknown region, which he called +"Sandy Ague," chiefly inhabited by the flea, the horned toad, and the +rattlesnake. Mr. Ames, of the _Herald_, a democratic paper, asked Derby, +a stanch whig, to occupy the editorial chair during a brief absence. He +did so, changing its politics at once, and furnishing funny articles +which later appeared as "Phoenixiana," and ranked him with Artemus Ward +as a genuine American humorist. Here is his closing paragraph after +those preposterous somersaults and daring pranks as editor _pro tem_: + +"Very little news will be found in the _Herald_ this week; the fact is, +there never is much news in it, and it is very well that it is so; the +climate here is so delightful that residents in the enjoyment of their +_dolce far niente_ care very little about what is going on elsewhere, +and residents of other places care very little about what is going on +in San Diego, so all parties are likely to be gratified with the little +paper, 'and long may it wave.'" + +The present city has eighteen thousand inhabitants, twenty-three church +organizations, remarkably fine schools, a handsome opera-house, broad +asphalt pavements, electric lights, electric and cable cars,--a compact, +well-built city, from the fine homes on the Heights to the business +portion near the water. + +In regard to society, I find that the "best society" is much the same +all over the civilized world. Accomplished, cultured, well-bred men and +women are found in every town and city in California. And distance from +metropolitan privileges makes people more independent, better able to +entertain themselves and their guests, more eagerly appreciative of the +best in every direction. + + "O city reflecting thy might from the sea, + There is grandeur and power in the future for thee, + Whose flower-broidered garments the soft billows lave, + Thy brow on the hillside, thy feet in the wave." + +Many of San Diego's guests have no idea of her at her best. The majority +of winter tourists leave California just as Mother Nature braces up to +do her best with wild-flowers, blossoming orchards, and waving +grain-fields. The summers are really more enjoyable than the winters. +When the Nicaragua Canal is completed it will be a pleasant trip to San +Diego from any Atlantic seaport. A railroad to Phoenix, Arizona, _via_ +Yuma, will allow the melting, panting, gasping inhabitants of New Mexico +and Arizona an opportunity to get into a delightfully cool climate. + + +THE INDIANS AND THE MISSION FATHERS. + +As for Indians, I have never seen such Indians as Helen Hunt Jackson +depicts so lovingly. I have never seen any one who has seen one. They +existed in her imagination only, as did Fenimore Cooper's noble redmen +of the forest solely in his fancy. Both have given us delightful novels, +and we are grateful. + +The repulsive stolid creatures I have seen at stations, with sullen +stare, long be-vermined locks, and filthy blankets full of fleas, are +possibly not a fair representation of the remnants of the race. They +have been unfairly dealt with. I am glad they can be educated and +improved. They seem to need it. After reading "Ramona" and Mrs. +Jackson's touching article on the "Mission Indians in California," and +then looking over the opinions of honest writers of a previous +generation regarding the Indians, it is more puzzling than ever. The +following criticisms apply exclusively to the Southern Californian +tribes. + +Mr. Robinson, after a twenty years' residence among them, said: "The +Indian of California is a species of monkey; he imitates and copies +white men, but selects vice in preference to virtue. He is hypocritical +and treacherous, never looks at any one in conversation, but has a +wandering, malicious gaze. Truth is not in him." + +And the next testimony is from an Indian curate: "The Indians lead a +life of indolence rather than devote themselves to the enlightening of +their souls with ideas of civilization and cultivation; it is repugnant +to their feelings, which have become vitiated by the unrestricted +customs among them. Their inclination to possess themselves of the +property of others is unbounded. Their hypocrisy when they pray is as +much to be feared as their insolence when in tumultuous disorder. They +are never grateful for any benefit, nor do they pardon an injury, and +they never proffer civilities, unless to accomplish some interested +motive. They are ready to expose themselves to the greatest danger to +satisfy their predominant passions. The future from them is ever veiled +by the present. Their inconstancy and want of confidence deprives them +of friends, and he who by deception holds them in subjection may reduce +them to almost abject slavery." + +Dana, speaking of the language of the Californian Indians, described it +as "brutish" and "a complete slabber." + +The missionary Fathers did their best to teach and convert them, and the +missions must be spoken of. So we will go back a little. + +No one knows how California was so named. St. Diego was the patron saint +of Spain. St. Francis, who founded the Franciscan order, was a gay young +Italian, who after conversion led a life of mortification and extreme +self-denial, tramped about like a beggar, scourged himself, slept on +ground, rolled in snow to subdue the flesh, fasted, wept until he was +almost blind, saw visions, like all other great religious leaders, +received messages directly from Christ, and was at last rewarded with +the stigmata (the marks of the crucifix on his body), and commemoration +after death. + +Father Junipero, of this order, was appointed presiding missionary of +California, and arrived July, 1769, erected a great cross on the coast, +celebrated mass, and commenced his work. Like St. Francis, he was +earnest, devout, pure, and self-sacrificing, blessed with wonderful +magnetism. Once, while exhorting his hearers to repent, he scourged his +own shoulders so unmercifully with a chain that his audience shuddered +and wept; and one man, overcome by emotion, rushed to the pulpit, +secured the chain, and, disrobing, flogged himself to death. This holy +Father believed that he was especially protected by Heaven, and that +once, when journeying on a desolate road, he was hospitably entertained +by the Holy Family. + +He said, "I have placed my faith in God, and trust in His goodness to +plant the standard of the holy cross not only at San Diego, but even as +far as Monterey." + +And this was done in less than ten years, but with many discouragements. + +The first Indian who was induced to bring his baby for baptism got +frightened, and dashed away, taking, however, the handsome piece of +cloth which had been wrapped around the child for the ceremony. + +Next there was an attack with arrows; in less than a month serious +fighting followed; and later more than one thousand Indians joined in +the attack. One priest was killed and all inhabitants of the mission +more or less wounded, and the mission itself was burned. The present +ruins are the "new" buildings on the site of the old, completed in 1784, +the walls of adobe four feet thick, the doorways and windows of burnt +tiles. These half-cylindrical plates of hard-burnt clay were used to +protect the inmates from the sun and the burning arrows of the Indians, +and are now greatly valued as relics. + +In front is the orchard of three hundred olive trees, more than a +century old, still bearing a full crop, and likely to do so for +centuries to come. As the Indians disliked work much, and church +services more, they were encouraged in both matters by rather forcible +means, as the Irishman "enticed" the pig into his pen with a pitchfork. +We "tourists" who, dismounting from our carriages, view with sentimental +reverence the picturesque ruins, the crumbling arches, the heavy bells +now silent but mutely telling a wondrous story of the past, and tiptoe +quietly through the damp interiors, gazing at pictures of saints and of +hell and paradise, dropping our coins into the box at the door, and +going out duly impressed to admire the architecture or the carving, or +the general fine effect against the sky of fleckless blue--we picture +these sable neophytes coming gladly, bowing in devout homage, delighted +to learn of God and Duty, and cheerfully coöperating with the good +priests who had come so far to teach them. In 1827 the San Diego mission +had within its boundaries an Indian population of 1500, 10,000 head of +cattle, 17,000 sheep, and more than 1000 horses. But Mr. Robinson tells +us that the Indians were dragged to service, were punished and chained +if they tried to escape, and that it was not unusual to see numbers of +them driven along by a leader and forced with a whip-lash into the doors +of the sanctuary. + +It is said that they were literally enslaved and scared into submission +by dreadful pictures of hell and fear of everlasting torment. After +church they would gamble, and they often lost everything, even wives and +children. They were low, brutal, unintelligent, with an exceedingly +limited vocabulary and an unbounded appetite. A man is as he eats, and, +as some one says, "If a man eats peanuts he will think peanuts." + +"There was nothing that could be swallowed and digested which the San +Diego Indian would not eat. Snakes, half roasted and even raw, were +toothsome dainties. The horned toad and the lizard had favorite places +at each repast. Human parasites were not refused, and mice, gophers, +bats, caterpillars, worms, entrails, and even carrion, were consumed +with a greed that did not stop at pounds. Hittel says that twenty-four +pounds of meat in a day was not too much for a Californian Indian, and +Baegart mentions the case of one native who ate seventeen watermelons at +a sitting. The smoking of wild tobacco was carried on to equal excess." + +The saintly Fathers deserve unlimited praise for making them accomplish +so much and behave as well as they did. Those New Englanders who +criticise them as severe in discipline must remember that at the same +period our ancestors were persecuting Quakers and burning witches. The +beautiful hospitality of these early priests should also be mentioned. + +Alfred Robinson described a miracle play which he saw performed at San +Diego at Christmas, in 1830, as akin to the miracle plays of mediæval +Europe. The actors took the part of Gabriel, Lucifer, shepherds, a +hermit, and Bartolo, a lazy vagabond who was the clown and furnished the +element of comedy: the whole interspersed with songs and incidents +better adapted to the stage than to the church. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +EN ROUTE TO LOS ANGELES. + + + "Bless me, this is pleasant, + Riding on the rail!" + +On the Surf Line from San Diego to Los Angeles, a seventy-mile run along +the coast, there is so much to see, admire, and think about, that the +time passes rapidly without napping or nodding. Take a chair seat on the +left of car--the ocean side--and enjoy the panoramic view from the +window: the broad expanse of the Pacific, its long curling breakers, the +seals and porpoises tumbling about in clumsy frolics, the graceful gulls +circling above them, the picturesque cañons, and the flocks of birds +starting from the ground, frightened by our approach. This we watch for +more than an hour; then the scene changes, and, leaving the water, we +have glimpses of wondrous carpets of wild-flowers, the golden poppy +predominant, miles of brilliant green on either hand, peeps at the three +missions, the groves at Orange, the town of Santa Ana, and Anaheim, the +parent colony, the first of all the irrigated settlements of Southern +California, now a wealthy city. + +The missions are always interesting. San Juan Capistrano was seriously +injured by an earthquake in 1812; the tower was shaken so severely that +it toppled over during morning mass, killing thirty of the worshippers, +the priests escaping through the sacristy. It was the latest and +costliest of the missions. "Its broken olive mill and crumbling +dove-cote, and the spacious weed-grown courts and corridors, are +pathetic witnesses to the grandeur of the plans and purposes of the +founders, and also of the rapidity with which nature effaces the noblest +works of human hands." + +But San Luis Rey is in good condition, having been restored to something +of its original beauty, and recently re-dedicated. The walled +enclosures once contained fifty-six acres, six being covered by the +sacred edifice, its arched colonnades, and the cloisters, in which the +Fathers lived, surrounded by three thousand baptized savages. Mrs. +Jeanne C. Carr quotes a stage-driver with whom she talked on the box as +saying: "Ye see, ma'am, what them old padders didn't know 'bout findin' +work for their subjicks and pervidin' for the saints 'n' angels, not to +say therselves, wa'n't wuth knowin'. They carried on all kinds o' +bizness. Meat was plenty, keepin' an' vittles was to be had at all the +missions an' ranches too, jes' by settin' round. The pastures and hills +was alive with horses and cattle, an' hides an' taller was their coin. +They cured and stacked the hides, dug holes in stiff ground, an' run the +taller into 'em; it kep' sweet until a ship laid up to Capistrano, _then +that taller turned into gold_. They could load up a big ship in a single +day, they had so many Indians to help." And he proceeded to tell of his +own lucky find: "A lot of that holy taller was lost 'n' fergot, nobuddy +knows how many years. One night I went up into the grass beyant the +mission to stake out my hosses; an' when I druv the fust stake it went +way deawn, like 'twas in soft mud. I jes' yanked it up: half on 't was +kivered with grease. The evening was cool, but the day had been brilin', +an' now mebbe ye kin guess how I found my taller mine. 'Twas a leetle +mouldy on top, but the heft on 't was hard,--a reg'lar bonanzy fer a +stage-driver." + +It may seem irreverent to introduce this droll fellow in sharp contrast +with the beautiful ruin, full of the most cherished memories of old +Spain, but reality often gives romance a hard jar. It is pleasant to +know that the expelled Franciscan order has just returned to California, +and that San Luis Rey is now occupied. It is worth making the trip to +San Juan to see the old bells struck, as in former times, by a rope +attached to the clapper. They have different tones, and how eloquently +they speak to us. These missions along the coast and a line farther +inland are the only real ruins that we have in America, and must be +preserved, whether as a matter of sentiment or money, and in some way +protected from the vandals who think it jolly fun to lug off the old red +tiles, or even the stone bowl for holy water--anything they can steal. +At San Juan the plaster statues have been disgracefully mutilated by +relic-hunters and thoughtless visitors. Eyes have been picked out, noses +cut off, fingers carried away, and the altar-cloths everywhere have been +slashed at the corners. + +A society has been formed to try to save them, and one learned and +enthusiastic mission lover proposes to revive the old Camino del Rey, or +King's Highway. "What could not the drive from San Diego to Sonoma be +made if the State once roused herself to make it? Planted and watered +and owned as an illustration of forestry, why should it not also as a +route of pilgrimage rank with that to Canterbury or Cologne on the +Rhine? The Franciscans have given to California a nomenclature which +connects them and us permanently with what was great in their +contemporary history, while we preserve daily upon our lips the names of +the great chiefs of their own order." + +But where am I? Those mouldering walls led me into a reverie. Speaking +of "ruins" reminds me of a Frenchman who called on the poet Longfellow +in his old age and explained his visit in this way: "Sare, you 'ave no +ruins in dis country, so I 'ave come to see you." + +The cactus hedge around each mission to keep the cattle in, and possibly +the hostile Indians out, must have been effective. We see now and then a +little that has survived. This makes me think of a curious bird I +noticed in my drives at San Diego, the roadrunner, classed with the +cuckoo. It has various names, the chaparral-cock, the ground-cuckoo, the +prairie-cock, paisano, and worst of all, in classic nomenclature, the +_Geococcyx californianus_. + +It keeps on the ground most of the time, and can run with such swiftness +that it cannot be easily overtaken by horse and hounds. It has a tail +longer than its body, which it bears erect. It kills beetles, toads, +birds, and mice, but has a special dislike for the rattlesnake, and +often meets him and beats him in fair combat. When it finds one sleeping +or torpid it makes a circle of cactus thorns around him so he cannot +escape--for "future reference," as my driver said. + +This thorny circle is akin to the lariat made of horsehair, the ends +sticking out roughly all around, with which the Indian used to encircle +himself before going to sleep, as a protection from the rattlesnake, who +could not cross it. But here we are at Los Angeles. Hear the bawling +cabbies: "This way for The Westminster!" "Hollenbeck Hotel!" + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +LOS ANGELES AND ROUND ABOUT. + + + "O southland! O dreamland! with cycles of green; + O moonlight enchanted by mocking-bird's song; + Cool sea winds, fair mountains, the fruit-lands between, + The pepper tree's shade, and the sunny days long." + +Los Angeles is the chief city of Southern California, and truly +venerable in comparison with most places in the State--founded in 1781, +now one hundred and twelve years old. Its full name, "Nuestra Senora la +Reina de los Angeles," "musical as a chime of bells," would hardly do in +these days, and "The City of the Angels," as it is sometimes called, +scarcely suits the present big business-y place, which was started by +those shrewd old padres when everything west of the Alleghanies was an +almost unknown region, and Chicago and St. Louis were not thought of. +These Fathers were far-sighted fellows, with a keen eye for the +beautiful, sure to secure good soil, plenty of water, and fine scenery +for a settlement. Next came the Hispano-American era of adobe, +stage-coaches, and mule teams, now replaced by the purely American +possessions, with brick, stone, vestibule trains, and all the wonders of +electricity. It is now a commercial centre, a railroad terminal, with +one hundred miles of street-car track within the city limits, carrying +twelve million passengers yearly. It has outgrown the original grant of +six miles square, and has a city limit, and the first street traversed +this square diagonally. It lies on the west bank of the Los Angeles +River, one of those peculiar streams which hides itself half the year +only to burst forth in the spring in a most assertive manner. There are +fine public buildings, fifty-seven churches, to suit all shades of +religious belief, two handsome theatres, several parks, and long streets +showing homes and grounds comparing favorably with the best environs of +Eastern cities. It is well to drive through Adams and Figueroa streets +before you leave. There are no attractive hotels at present; but one is +so greatly needed and desired that it will soon be designed and +realized. + +Madame de Staël was right when she said she greatly preferred meeting +interesting men and women to admiring places or scenery. Among my +pleasantest memories of Los Angeles are my visits to Madame Fremont in +her pretty red cottage, presented by loving friends. It is a privilege +to meet such a clever, versatile woman. Her conversation flashes with +epigrams and pithy sayings, and her heart is almost as young as when it +was captured by the dashing "Pathfinder." + +I believe there are men still existing who keep up the old absurd +fallacy that women are deficient in wit and humor! She would easily +convert all such. + +The Coronels, to whom Mrs. Jackson was so indebted and of whom she wrote +so appreciatively, are still in the same home, cherishing her memory +most fondly, her photograph being placed in a shrine where the +sweet-faced madame kneels daily, and her books and knick-knacks are +preserved as precious souvenirs. + +Don Antonio Coronel is truly a most interesting personage, the last +specimen of the grand old Spanish régime. His father was the first +schoolmaster in California, and the son has in his possession the first +schoolbook printed on this coast, at Monterey in 1835, a small +catechism; also the first book printed in California, a tiny volume +dated 1833, the father having brought the type from Spain. + +I was taken to the basement to see a rare collection of antiquities. In +one corner is a cannon made in 1710, and brought by Junipero Serra. +Ranged on shelves is a collection such as can be found nowhere else, of +great value: strange stone idols, a few specimens of the famous +iridescent pottery, queer ornaments, toys, and relics. In another corner +see the firearms and weapons of long ago: old flintlocks, muskets, +Spanish bayonets, crossbows, and spears. There are coins, laces, +baskets, toys, skulls, scalps, and a sombrero with two long red +pennons, on which each feather represents a human scalp. Upstairs there +are early specimens of Mexican art; one of the oldest pictures of +Junipero Serra; groups in clay modelled by the Dona Mariana of Mexican +scenes; feather pictures made from the plumage of gorgeous birds--too +much to remember or describe here. But I do believe that if asked to say +what they valued most, they would point to the little wooden table where +their dear friend sat when she wrote the first pages of "Ramona." + +For the stranger Los Angeles is the place to go to to see a new play, or +marvel at the display of fruits seen at a citrus fair--forts made of +thousands of oranges, and railroad stations and crowns of lemons, +etc.--and admire a carnival of flowers, or for a day's shopping; but +there are better spots in which to remain. I found the night air +extremely unpleasant last winter, and after hearing from a veracious +druggist, to whom I applied for a gargle, that there was an epidemic of +grip in the city, and that many died of pneumonia and that a small +majority of the invalids got well, I packed my trunk hastily and started +for Pasadena. + +Those who live in the city and those who do not dislike raw, bracing +winds from the ocean pronounce Los Angeles to be the _only_ place worth +living in in all Southern California. Each place has its supporters +ignoring all other attractions, and absolutely opposite accounts of the +weather have been seriously given me by visitors to each. For those who +must be "high and dry" to improve, the rainy season is certainly unsafe. + +Los Angeles is also a place to go from to the beach at Santa Monica, and +Redondo, or that wondrous island, "Santa Catalina," which has been +described by Mr. C. F. Holder in the _Californian_ so enthusiastically +that I should think the "Isle of Summer" could not receive all who would +unite to share his raptures--with a climate nearer to absolute +perfection than any land, so near all the conveniences of civilization, +and everything else that can be desired. His first jew-fish or black +sea-bass weighed 342½ pounds, and a dozen other varieties are gamy and +plentiful; fine sport with the rifle in the upland region, wealth of +verdure along the trail; below, good hotel, beaches, bathing, evening +concerts--"the true land of sweet idleness, where one can drift around +with all nature to entertain." To be strictly truthful, I must add that +the hotel was built just over an old Indian burying-ground, therefore +cases of typhoid fever are not unknown. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +PASADENA. + + + "If there be an Elysium upon earth, + It is this, it is this." + +For my own taste, I prefer Pasadena, the "Crown of the Valley"--nine +miles from Los Angeles, but eight hundred feet higher and with much +drier air, at the foot of the Sierra Madre range, in the beauteous San +Gabriel Valley. Yes, Pasadena seems to me as near Eden as can be found +by mortal man. + +Columbus in a letter to Ferdinand and Isabella said, "I believe that if +I should pass under the equator in arriving at this higher region of +which I speak, I should find there a milder temperature and a diversity +in the stars and in the waters.... I am convinced that there is the +Terrestrial Paradise." + +Poor persecuted Columbus! I wish he could have once seen Pasadena, the +very spot he dreamed of. Can I now write calmly, critically, judicially +of what I see, enjoy, admire and wonder over? If I succeed it will be +what no one else has done. I was here last year and gave my impressions +then, which are only strengthened by a second visit, so that I will +quote my own words, which read like the veriest gush, but are absolutely +true, came straight from my heart, and, after all, didn't half tell the +story. + +I am fascinated and enthralled by your sun-kissed, rose-embowered, +semi-tropical summer-land of Hellenic sky and hills of Hymettus, with +its paradoxical antitheses: of flowers and flannels; strawberries and +sealskin sacks; open fires with open windows; snow-capped mountains and +orange blossoms; winter looking down upon summer--a topsy-turvy land, +where you dig for your wood and climb for your coal; where water-pipes +are laid above ground, with no fear of Jack Frost, and your principal +rivers flow bottom side up and invisible most of the time; where the +boys climb up hill on burros and slide down hills on wheels; where the +trees are green all the year, and you go outdoors in December to get +warm; where squirrels live in the ground with owls for chums, while rats +build in the trees, and where water runs up hill; where anything +unpleasant, from a seismic disturbance to mosquitoes in March, is +"exceptional" and surprising. A land where there are no seasons, but +where sunshine and shade are so distinctly marked that one can be easily +half baked on one side and dangerously chilled on the other. + +Then the Climate--spell it with a capital, and then try to think of an +adjective worthy to precede it. Glorious! Delicious! Incomparable! +Paradisaical!!! To a tenderfoot straight from New Hampshire, where we +have nine months of winter and three of pretty cold weather, where we +have absolutely but three months that are free from frost, this seems +like enchanted ground. + +A climate warm, with a constant refreshing coolness in its heart; cool, +with a latent vivifying warmth forever peeping out of its coat-tail +pocket. + +June does not define it, nor September. It has no synonym, for there is +nothing like it. I am glad that I have lived to see hedges of +heliotrope, of geraniums and calla-lilies. I remember, in contrast, +solitary calla plants that I have nursed with care all winter in hopes +of one blossom for Easter. And I do not feel sure that I can ever tear +myself away. I am reminded of good old Dr. Watts, who was invited by +Lady Abney to pass a fortnight at her home, and remained for forty +years. + +Here we all unconsciously eat the lotus in some occult fashion, are +straightway bewitched and held willing captives. I have looked up the +lotus, about which so much is said or sung and so little definitely +known, and find it is a prickly shrub of Africa, bearing a fruit of a +sweet taste, and the early Greeks knew all about its power. Homer in the +Odyssey says that whoever ate of the fruit wished never to depart nor +again to see his native land. Many of Ulysses' sailors ate this fruit, +and lost all desire for home. + +The last letter received by me from New Hampshire, April 3d, begins in +this way: "It is like the middle of winter here, good sleighing and +still very cold." And then comes a sad series of announcements of +sickness and deaths caused by the protracted rigors of the season. And +here, at the same date, all the glories of the spring, which far exceeds +our summer--Spanish breezes, Italian sky and sunsets, Alpine mountains, +tropical luxuriance of vegetation, a nearly uniform climate, a big +outdoor conservatory. There is no other place on earth that combines so +much in the same limits. You can snowball your companions on Christmas +morning on the mountain-top, pelt your lady friends with rose leaves in +the foot-hills three hours later, and in another sixty minutes dip in +the surf no cooler than Newport in July; and the theatre in the evening. +As a bright workman said, you can freeze through and thaw out in one +day. + +An electric railroad will soon connect Los Angeles with Pasadena and +Mount Wilson, and a fine hotel is to be placed on the top of Echo +Mountain, 3500 feet high, and this will then certainly be the ideal +health and pleasure resort of the world. + +Pasadena's homes, protected on three sides by mountain ranges, are +surrounded by groves and gardens, trees and hedges from every clime. +Everything will grow and flourish here. Capitalists from the East seem +engaged in a generous rivalry to create the ideal paradise. Passion +vines completely cover the arbors, roses clamber to the tops of houses +and blossom by tens of thousands. I notice displays fit for a floral +show in the windows of butcher shops and shoe stores. The churches are +adorned with a mantle of vines and flowers. + +Are there no "outs," no defects in this Pasadena? One must not forget +the rainy days, the occasional "hot spells" of August and September, a +wind now and then that blows off steeples and tears down fragile +structures, bringing along a good deal more sand than is wanted. And +every year an earthquake may be expected. I have experienced two, and +they are not agreeable. + +Aside from these drawbacks and dust in summer, all else is perfection, +except that the weather is so uniformly glorious that there is seldom a +day when one is willing to stay at home. I feel just now like a +"deestrick" schoolboy who has been "kept in" on a summer afternoon. + +The wild-flowers are more fascinating to me than all those so profusely +cultivated. I weary of five thousand calla-lilies in one church at +Easter, and lose a little interest in roses when they bloom perennially +and in such profusion that I have had enough given me in one morning to +fill a wash-tub or clothes-basket! + +The wealth of color on the hills and mesas in springtime can never be +described or painted. The State flower, the yellow poppy with the name +that would floor any spelling-match hero--the eschscholtzia--is most +conspicuous, and can be seen far away at sea; but there are dozens of +others, that it is better to admire and leave unplucked, as they wilt so +soon. "The ground is literally dolly-vardened with buttercups, violets, +dodecatheons, gilias, nemophilas, and the like. And yet these are the +mere skirmish line of the mighty invading hosts, whose uniforms surpass +the kingly robes of Solomon, and whose banners of crimson and yellow and +purple will soon wave on every hilltop and in every valley. + +"In April and May the lover of nature may pass into the seventh heaven +of botanical delight. Then in favored sections the display reaches a +gorgeousness and a profusion that surpass both description and +imagination." + +No one can paint the grain fields as they look when the sun puts into +every blade a tiny golden ray and it is no longer every-day common +grain, but an enchanted carpet of living, radiant, golden green. We +tourists call it grass, but there is no grass to be proud of in +California. + +No one can paint the sky; no one would accept it as true to nature if +once caught on the canvas. + +I will not attempt to describe the mountains with their many charms. I +listened to a lecture lately where a man was struggling to do this, and +it was positively painful. The flowery verbiage, the accumulated +adjectives, the poetical quotations were overpowering. I seemed actually +sinking into luscious mellifluousness. I shook it off my fingers, as if +it were maple syrup. Then, as he climbed higher and higher, on and up, +never getting away from the richest verdure and the sweetest flowers, +scenes for an artist to paint with rapture, and a poet to sing in +ecstasy, I found myself pushing up my forehead to improvise a mansard +roof for my brain to swell in sympathy. And when he reached the summit +and the panorama burst upon his enraptured vision, it was too much for +my strained emotions, and I quietly slipped out. + +And the strangest part is that every word is true, and, say what one +will, one never gets near the reality. In this respect, you see, it +differs from a floral catalogue sent out in early spring, or a hotel +pamphlet with illustrations. + +The cable road is 3000 feet long, with a direct ascent of 1400 feet, and +the Echo Mountain House will be 1500 feet higher than the Catskill +hotels overlooking the Hudson, and it is estimated that not less than +60,000 fares will be collected upon this mountain railroad the first +year. + +All this was designed and executed by Professor Lowe, of aeronaut fame, +a scientist and banker, the inventor of water-gas and artificial ice, +and a man of great business ability. + +One of the best proofs of the health-giving power of this air is the +fact that the physicians practising here, with one exception, came +seriously ill and have not only recovered, but are strong enough to keep +very busy helping others. + +Pasadena has no ragged shabby outskirts; the poorer classes seem to be +able to own or rent pretty little homes, some like large birdcages, all +well kept and attractive. Some gentlemen from Indianapolis came here in +1873 and started the town, planting their orange orchards under the +shadows of the mountains. + +Each portion has its own attractions. Orange Grove Avenue, a street over +a mile long, is described by its name. Great trees stand in the centre +of the street, a fine road on either side, and the homes are embowered +in flowers and palms, while hedges are made of the pomegranate, the +honeysuckle, and even the heliotrope. Marengo Avenue is lined on either +side by splendid specimens of the pepper, the prettiest and most +graceful of all trees here. Colorado Street, with its homes and shops +and churches, leads out to the foot-hills and "Altadena," which is often +spoken of as recalling the handsome residences along the Riviera. + +The street cars which go from the station toward the mountains bear on +each the words, "This Car for the Poppy Fields," and they are a sight +worth seeing. Mrs. Kellog describes this flower more perfectly than any +artist could paint it: "Think of finest gold, of clearest lemon, of +deepest orange on silkiest texture, just bedewed with a frost-like +sheen, a silvery film, and you have a faint impression of what an +eschscholtzia is. Multiply this impression by acres of waving color." +And in February this may sometimes be seen. It has been well chosen for +the State flower. + +If consumptives must go away from the comforts of home, this is a haven +of rest for them. In a late _Medical Record_ I see that a physician +deprecates the custom of sending hopeless cases to the high altitudes of +Colorado, where the poor victim gasps out a few weeks or months of +existence. "If such cases as the above must be sent from home, as we +sometimes think here, to rid their home physicians of the annoyance of +their presence, they should be sent to Florida or Southern California, +where at least they may be chloroformed off into eternity by a soothing +climate, and not suffer an actual shortening of their days from a +climate acting on a radically different principle and entirely unsuited +to them." + +This is a bit of the shady side after all the sunlight. It is a place +for the invalid to rejoice in, and those in robust health can find +enough to do to employ all their energies. + +The "Tournament of Roses" last winter was a grand success, praised by +all. The "Pageant of Roses" was celebrated here lately, and I cannot +give you a better idea of it than by copying the synopsis. + +Imagine the opera-house trimmed inside with wreaths and festoons and +bouquets of roses--a picture in itself; audience in full evening dress, +each lady carrying roses, each man with a rose for a boutonnière. + +The dancing in costume was exquisitely graceful, and the evolutions and +figures admirably exact--no mistake, nothing amateurish about the whole +performance. + + PART FIRST. + + Los Flores, a garden in the Crown of the Valley. Goddess Flora and + her pages asleep. Harlequin, the magic spirit, enters, produces by + incantation the rain and summons the maiden Spring, who rouses the + Goddess and her pages. The Goddess commands the Harlequin to usher + in the Pageant of Roses. Enter the Red or Colonial Roses; march and + form for the reception and dance of the Ladies of the Minuet. + Retire. Harlequin, at the request of the Goddess, summons the Gold + of Ophirs, bearing urn as offering to the Goddess, when is + performed the dance of the Orient, including solo. Curtain falls on + tableau. + + PART SECOND. + + Same garden. Goddess on her throne, surrounded by her pages. She + summons the Harlequin, who in turn brings the Roses of Castile. + They bring offering of flowers to the Goddess, and perform a dance. + + + Goddess again summons Harlequin, who, by great effort, brings the + Roses of the Snow, or the Little Girls from Boston, led by Frost + Maiden. They perform a dance and retire. Both Harlequins enter, + perform a dance, and command the blooming of the Pink Rose Buds. + Pink Rose Buds enter without offering for the Goddess, and prevail + upon the Harlequins to help them out of their difficulties. The + Harlequins send Poppies for the great La France Rose Buds as an + offering, and perform "The Transformation of the Rose." Rose Buds + dance and are joined by the little Roses in the Snow. All dance and + retire. Enter White Harlequin, who calls for the White Rose dance + by the Greek maidens. They perform ceremonies and deck the altar of + their Goddess, dance and retire. Curtain. + + PART THIRD. + + Grand march. Tableau, with falling Rose petals, in the magic cañon. + +And not a word yet of The Raymond, that popular house set upon a hill +that commands a view hard to equal. The house is always filled to +overflowing, and this year General Wentworth tells me the business has +been better than ever. This famous resort is in East Pasadena, and has +its own station. It is always closed in April, just at the time when +there is the most to see and enjoy, and the flowers are left to bloom +unseen. + +The other fine hotel here, named for its owner, Colonel Green of +"August Flower" fame, is on ground eight feet higher, although by the +conformation of the land it does not look so. + +Many prefer to be in the town and nearer the mountains, and this house +proving insufficient for its patrons, an addition four times the size of +the present building is being added in semi-Moorish architecture, at a +cost of $300,000. + +That item shows what an experienced man of business thinks about the +future of Pasadena. + +The town is full of pleasant boarding-houses, as Mrs. Dexter's, Mrs. +Bangs's, and Mrs. Roberts's, and many enjoy having rooms at one house +and taking meals at another. You can spend as much or as little as you +choose. At Mrs. Snyder's I found simple but delicious old-fashioned +home-cooking at most reasonable rates. + +And still more? Yes, the Public Library must be mentioned, the valuable +collections I was permitted to see, the old mission of San Gabriel +three miles away, and then I shall give the next chapter to my brother, +who spent a week on Mt. Wilson, and came down wonderfully benefited even +by that short stay. One invalid he met there had gained four pounds in +as many days. His ambition now is to open a law office up among the +clouds and transact business by telephone, saying the fact that his +clients could not see him would be no disadvantage. + +While he is discoursing I will be studying the history of the Indian +baskets and report later. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +CAMPING ON MOUNT WILSON. + + + "On every height there lies repose." + +At Pasadena the mountain wall which guards the California of the South +stands very near and looks down with pride upon the blooming garden +below. The mountains which belong especially to Pasadena are but three +miles away. Their average height exceeds slightly that of the Mt. +Washington range in New Hampshire. The Sierra Madre system, of which +they form a part, contains some peaks considerably higher. + +Farther to the East, "Old Baldy"--Mt. San Antonio--raises its snowy +summit to a height just close enough to ten thousand feet to test the +veracity of its admirers. It is about ten miles from Pasadena by the +eyes, but would be twenty by the feet, if they could walk an air line. + +To the south and east of "Old Baldy" is Mt. San Jacinto, 12,000 feet +above the Pacific, upon which it looks, in the far distance. + +The majestic mountain wall, almost bending over the homes of Pasadena, +with their vines and fig trees, their roses and lilies, their orchards +of orange and lemon, and the distant snow-clad peaks glittering in the +gentle sunshine, combine to form a perfect picture. There are detailed +descriptions from the pens of those who feel an unctuous joy in painting +the lily, kalsomining the calla, and adding perfumes to the violet, the +rose, and the orange. + +The "Pasadena Alps" are so smeared with oleaginous gush that I had +conceived against them a sort of antipathy, which was not diminished by +their barren, treeless appearance. + +As Nature reasserted herself, this artificial nausea wore away. I took a +drive to Millard's Cañon, and was surprised at finding a charming wooded +road winding up through the cañon along a mountain stream. From the end +of the carriage-road we walked half a mile to a picturesque waterfall +having a sheer descent of perhaps forty feet. + +This revelation inspired a drive to Eaton's Cañon, where I found similar +attractions, and which led me to the new Mt. Wilson trail, or "Toll +Road." I made inquiries, inspected the small but substantial mules which +do the pedestrian part of the trip, went up the trail a short distance, +and, after many assurances, arranged to make the ascent. + +In fact, this trail is remarkably well built. It winds up the mountain +by a gradual and even ascent of nine miles, the grade nowhere exceeding +ten per cent. There are two camps near the summit, open all the year. +You may return the same day or stay for the remainder of your life. + +Take little luggage, of course: a heavy overcoat or wrap, and a small +grip. In the winter the nights are cold, and clouds and rain are not +unlikely to present the compliments of the season. + +The mountains of California are as topsy-turvy as its rivers. We used +to learn in our physical geographies that as the traveller ascends a +mountain the large trees continually give place to smaller--shrinking at +last to stunted shrubs, with a summit of barren rock. + +As our mules plod up Mt. Wilson, the trail at first is sandy, and the +mountain's flanks a barren waste, with thin covering of cactus and +chaparral. Half a mile from the starting-point appear small bushes, +which grow larger as we move upward. The trail turns into a cañon, and +becomes a hard, cool pathway leading up through small live-oaks and high +growth of bushes. We begin to see slender pines and larger oaks. Now the +trail leaves the cañon and winds out upon the open mountain-side. Here +the chaparral is green and flourishing. + +We wind abruptly into a cañon. Bushes of wild lilac overhang the path. +The manzanita reminds one of lilies of the valley transplanted to +California and growing on a bush. Down to the torrent at the bottom of +the cañon, and up its steep side, are large pines and live-oaks, +mountain mahogany and cedar. Near the summit we wind along a precipice +where the trail is blasted from the solid rock. Even here, any one who +is disposed to "look aloft" will see pine trees hanging over his head +hundreds of feet above. + +The summit is a forest of towering trees. On the topmost ridges are the +monarchs of the mountains--oaks three and four feet, and pines four and +five feet in diameter. Of course this increase in the size of timber is +noticeably uniform, only where the soil and natural features of the +mountains favor it. But the summit of Mt. Wilson, at least, resembles a +picnic ground raised nearly six thousand feet above the sea. The air is +light, dry, and exhilarating. The ground is carpeted with pine needles. +Delicate wild-flowers are seen in their season. In April I found wild +peas in blossom, harebells, morning-glories, poppies, and many varieties +of yellow flowers. I also saw hummingbirds, butterflies, swallows, and +squirrels, and here and there patches of plain white old-fashioned snow. +It is a novel spectacle to see a small boy snowballing a butterfly. In +the spring even dead trees are glorified with a mantle of golden green +moss. It covers the trunks of some of the living pines, making an +artistic background for the deep green of their boughs. + +From this upside-down mountain we look down upon rivers flowing bottom +side up. And that is California. + +As to the safety of the ascent, no one need hesitate who is free from +settled prejudice against a side-hill. You will soon let the reins hang +from the pommel of the saddle. One who chooses may jump off and walk for +a change. Only, if you are at the end of the procession, be careful to +keep between your mule and the foot of the mountain; otherwise he will +wheel around and wend his way homeward. If toiling along near the +summit, absorbed in the beauties of the prospect, it might be awkward to +feel the halter jerked from your hand and to see the mule galloping +around a sharp bend with your satchel, hung loosely over the pommel, +bobbing violently up and down, and perhaps hurled off into space as the +intelligent animal rounds the corner. + +Yes, it is safe, but there is a spice of excitement about it. I was +nervous at first, and seeing that the mule wished to nibble such herbage +as offered itself, I had thought it well to humor him. At a narrow space +with sharp declivity below, the beast fixed his jaws upon a small tough +bush on the upper bank. As he warmed up to the work, his hind feet +worked around toward the edge of the chasm. The bush began to come out +by the roots, which seemed to be without end. As the weight of the mule +was thrown heavily backward, I looked forward with some apprehension to +the time when the root should finally give way: I saw now that the mule +had fixed his stubborn jaws upon the entrails of the mountain, and +expected every instant to see other vital organs brought to light. I +dared not and could not move. The root gave way, allowing the mule to +fall backward, and startling him with a rattling down of stones and +gravel. One foot slipped over the edge, but three stuck to the path, and +the majority prevailed. After that I saw it was safer to let my faithful +beast graze on the outer edge. All went well until he became absorbed in +following downward the foliage of a bush which grew up from below. As +he stretched his neck farther and farther down, I saw that he was +bending his forelegs. His shoulders sank more and more. There was +nothing between me and the sea-level except the mule's ears. By frantic +exertions I worked myself backward, and was sliding down behind--too +late. The bush broke, causing the mule to fall back forcibly against the +inner bank, with myself sandwiched between the adamantine wall of the +mountain and the well-shod heels of the mule. The animal, being as much +scared as myself, started up the trail at a gallop. I had saved my life +but lost my mule. I have no taste for overtaking runaway mules on a +steep and interminable up-grade. It is a taste which must be acquired. +But then, of course, the mule would turn after his first alarm and tear +down to the stable. I resolved to push on in the hope of finding a wider +portion of the path, or at least of meeting the animal before he had +acquired uncontrollable momentum. + +At the very first turn a boy appeared hurrying back with my palfry. The +mule had galloped on until he overtook the rest of the party, who had +sent him back in haste, while they followed on as quickly as possible. + +It flashed upon my mind that the mule understands his business. We +imagine, egotistically, that the mule is all the time thinking about us, +and that he may take umbrage at some fancied slight and leap with us +down the abyss. Now the mule does not care to make the descent in that +way. He is thinking about himself just like the rest of us. We are only +so much freight packed upon his back. + +The foregoing narrative may be exaggerated in some details, but the +essential facts remain, that the mule has a healthy appetite and that he +looks out for himself. + +A little further on I had an opportunity to judge how a passenger would +conduct himself if he should be thrown from the trail. At the point +where the slope of the mountains is most abrupt, certain repairs had +lately been made upon the trail, and a man was now prying large stones +over the edge. They rolled and tumbled down, taking wild leaps into the +air and plunging from rock to rock. After they disappeared in the woods +we could hear them crashing and clattering down the cañon. A small +avalanche of broken fragments followed in their wake. + +It must have been a fine sight when the blasting was first done in the +side of the rocky precipice: when huge masses of rock, half as big as a +house, were rent from the side of the mountain and thundered down with +frightful crash, cutting off huge trees and shaking the very mountains. +And now I will say again that the trail is wide and safe; the slopes on +the side are seldom very steep, and the mules could not be pushed over +by any available power. + +Some people, in fact, prefer the old trail because it is more wild and +romantic and not so well kept. The new road has enough picturesque +features to satisfy me. + +I remember when the valley came in sight again, after half an hour's +climbing, the first objects to catch my eye were the storage reservoirs, +which dot the valley and are used in irrigation. Their regular shapes +and the margins of masonry about them give them, from the mountains, +the appearance of mirrors. One seemed almost directly below. Probably it +was at least a hundred feet in length. In the form of a rectangle with +rounded corners, it was the exact counterpart of a framed mirror. The +surface was like polished glass, and trees upon the bank were reflected +with beautiful distinctness. + +After another half-hour's ride comes a glimpse in the other direction. +Through a gap in the mountains we look for a moment behind the hills of +Pasadena into the heart of the Sierra Madre. Vistas of mountain-sides +are seen on either hand, one beyond the other, the long slope of one +slightly overlapping that of its nearer neighbor, offering for our +inspection a succession of blue tints, becoming more and more delicate +in the distance till they melt into the sky. + +The mules care less for visible azure than for edible verdure, and soon +carried us by this picture. Far up the trail is a pretty scene upon our +own mountain. Suddenly we came out of the cool, wild forest upon a +little level spot, by the spring of the mountain stream. Here is an old +camp with green grass growing up about the deserted building. After a +final winding journey around the steep southerly side of the mountain, +came the first full view of the wild chaos of broken ranges toward the +desert. Then follows a gradual shaded ascent to the camp. The world has +varied panoramas of mountain scenery "set off" by the glitter of snowy +peaks. In California there are many accessible summits rising from +half-tropical valleys. Mountains which overlook the sea are without +number. There may be in America other points from which one may look +down upon a "city of homes," and a "business centre" with sixty thousand +busy inhabitants. I do not know any spot apart from the mountains of +Pasadena where you may put all of these in combination. From the +northerly peak of Mt. Wilson to the southerly peak of Mt. Harvard is a +distance by trail along the ridge of perhaps three miles, offering a +variety of points of view. To the north and east you may look down into +a gorge two thousand feet beneath, from which rises on the gentle breeze +the mingled voice of brawling brook and murmuring pines. Beyond is a +confusion of green mountains, from which a range of white summits rises +in the calm distance. Toward the south are solitary peaks with halos of +fleecy cloud. + +As for the prospect in the other direction, it shows at once that the +way to print upon the mind a map of California's physical formation is +to see it _a la_ bird's-eye--as the short path to acquaintance with a +great city is a vertical one--to the tower of the City Hall. + +One would require but a few more well-selected stations to map out all +of Southern California. + +The several valleys of which Los Angeles is the commercial capital are +stretched out before us like perfectly level plains, divided by ranges +of hills. In the distance lies the glistening Pacific, with the blue +outlines of Catalina and more distant islands etched upon the western +sky. This picture is sometimes so distinct that you find yourself +trying to recognize acquaintances on the streets of Pasadena. Again +everything is dreamy with haze. Another morning you may stumble out +trying to rub yesterday's sunburn from your eyes, and find everything +below curtained by a bank of snowy fog. As for myself, I enjoy the +prospect most when I cannot see it at all--that is, at night. + +There is a varied interchange of signals between the mountains and the +valley. At noon the people here talk with their Pasadena friends by +gleaming flashlight. Then there are the reservoirs scattered over the +valley. In certain lights they are not seen at all, but in line with the +sun they send up great flash signals themselves, and just after sunset +they are always seen reflecting the calm twilight. An hour after sunset +our camp-fire is lighted. As we stand by it, the horizon seems to have +retired for the night. There is continuous sky, shading without a break +into the shadows below. Gazing dreamily down, I am startled by the +flashing forth of a hundred brilliant stars from what was the valley +below. They disappear for a moment and then blaze out and become a +permanent constellation. These stars are too numerous to resemble any +known constellation. I concluded after a little that the mighty Orion +had drawn his sword and slain the Great Bear; that the lion had rashly +interfered and his carcass had been dragged to that of the bear, and +that the exhausted Orion had thrown himself wearily upon them to rest. +And there are the Pleiades close by; with feminine curiosity they have +come as near as they dared, to see what it is all about. + +Those wishing a scientific explanation of these phenomena must consult +the Pasadena Electric Lighting Company, except as to the stray Pleiades, +which seem to have some connection with the lights of the Raymond Hotel. + +But what is that dim and curious meteor slowly moving toward the spot +where Los Angeles used to be? Perhaps it is the headlight which heralds +the coming of the belated overland train. Suddenly I see out of the +darkness beyond Pasadena the blazing forth of a majestic cross, of +wavering, uneven outline, but made up of crowded multitudes of +sparkling, glittering, scintillating stars. Los Angeles has +substantially the same system of street illumination as Pasadena. + +You will note that I have abstained from hauling the sun above the +eastern Sierras in the morning, and from tucking it under the Pacific at +night. This rearrangement of ponderous constellations is all that my +strength and my other engagements will permit. Those who want to know +the glories of the sunset and moonlight must climb Mt. Wilson +themselves. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +CATCHING UP ON THE KITE-SHAPED TRACK. + + +Not the kite-shaped track of new-made trotting records and pneumatic +tires, but a track upon which you may pass a pleasant day riding after +the iron horse. + +The route extends easterly from Los Angeles to San Bernardino _via_ +Pasadena. Beyond San Bernardino is the "loop," which will take us twelve +miles farther east to Mentone, and around an oval curve back to San +Bernardino. Thence we kite down to Riverside, then southwesterly to +Orange, and so up to Los Angeles. Leaving Los Angeles at 9 A.M. you may +return by 4 P.M., with time for dinner at San Bernardino. + +Taking the traveller back and forth across the central part of Southern +California as it does, the kite-shaped trip is naturally a favorite +with tourists, and, as its "catchy" name indicates, it caters to that +element of travel. One always sees also anxious and eager "prospectors" +or expectant settlers, who lose no opportunity to inquire all about +citrus and deciduous fruits, and prices of land and of water for +irrigating the same. This excursion will show you the heart of the +orange belt or belts of Southern California, especially on the northern +and eastern sides of the "kite." + +The schedule of trains allows of convenient stop-overs, and several may +be made to advantage. + +Pasadena and Riverside of course must not be passed by. A short stay at +Orange or Anaheim gives an interesting glimpse of a region where orange +culture is combined with that of other citrus fruits, as well as the +grape and olive. + +Aside from these points, the most interesting feature of the trip is the +"loop" beyond San Bernardino. The town of San Bernardino is a thriving +business centre. Perhaps it is on this account that its appearance from +the car window is not as attractive as that of Riverside or Pasadena, +which from all points of view seem peacefully embowered in half-tropic +foliage. But away from the railroads San Bernardino also has its +charming residence district, with the same general characteristics as +its sister towns. + +Upon the "loop" a stop should be made at Redlands, an interesting spot, +where the successful culture of oranges is carried on at a much higher +elevation than was thought possible until a few years ago. There is +never any frost there to injure the fruit. The Hotel Terracina, on the +heights, has a wondrous view, and the Smiley brothers, of "Lake Mohunk" +celebrity, have fine grounds and homes on Cañon Crest, and are thinking +of building a hotel. + +The circuit of the "loop" reminds me of roving around upon the rim of a +very large and shallow spoon, tilted upward toward Mentone at the +smaller end. San Bernardino is 1075 feet above the sea, and Mentone 1640 +feet. At that point we have nearly climbed the foothills, and are very +close to the great mountains themselves. As we skim around upon the +upper side of the "loop," the long gradual slope from the foot of the +mountains to the stream at the centre of the valley seems an ideal +conformation for leading the irrigation streams from the mountains along +the rows of orange trees which will soon entirely cover this valley. + +Four miles from San Bernardino is the station of Arrowhead, from which +we have a near view of the peak of nature which gives the place its +name. It is a bare, gravelly tract on the side of the mountain, which, +in contrast with the chaparral about it, takes the shape of an Indian +arrowhead with a portion of the shaft attached. Covering a large area, +the arrowhead is a landmark for many miles around. I could not help +thinking that if a gang of Italian laborers were employed for a few days +sharpening the outline of the arrowhead by cutting away bushes along the +edge, and setting out others judiciously in the converted background, +the effect of this interesting natural phenomenon might be much +brightened. There are hot-springs at Arrowhead, and a hotel renders the +varied attractions of the place available. + +While we are kiting along let me tell you what I know about baskets +made by the Indian women of the Pacific Coast of now and long ago, the +last considered valuable and now commanding high prices. There are +several experts on this subject in Pasadena--Mrs. Lowe, ex-Mayor Lukens, +Mrs. Jeanne C. Carr, and Mrs. Belle Jewett, who has the most precious +collection of all. + +Mrs. Lowe has gathered together for her Basement Museum, which any State +would be proud to own, all that she could find of special interest +relative to the Indians of California--clothing, headdress, weapons, +medicine charms, money, beads, and of course many baskets, for baskets +are as indispensable to the Indian as the reindeer to the Esquimau. They +were used as cradles, caps for the head when carrying burdens, wardrobes +for garments not in use, granaries on roof, sifters for pounded meal, +for carrying water, and keeping it for use, for cooking, receptacles for +money, plaques to gamble on, and so on. And the basket plays an +important part in their legends and folk-lore. + +Mrs. Lowe determined to preserve these specimens, as tourists were +rapidly carrying away all they could find of such relics, and soon the +State would be without proofs to tell how the Indian of the past lived +and fed and fought, bought and sold, how he was dressed, and how he +amused himself. + +Mrs. Ellen B. Farr, an artist in Pasadena who is famous for her success +in painting the pepper tree and the big yellow poppy, with its reddish +orange line changing toward petal tips to pale lemon, has also devoted +her skill to pictures of such baskets grouped effectually--baskets now +scattered all over the world, each with its own history, its own +individuality, and no duplicate, for no two baskets are ever exactly +similar. + +The true way to obtain these baskets is, go a-hunting for them, not buy +them at stores. They are handed down for generations as heirlooms +originally, never intended for sale, and with the needles used in +weaving, made usually of a fine bone from a hawk's wing, and the +gambling dice, are the carefully concealed family treasures. But +sometimes by going yourself to see the aged squaws, or paying one who +is familiar with their ways to explore for you, you may get a rich +return. Baskets are of all sizes, from the little beauties no bigger +than a teacup, woven finely and adorned with beads and bits of dyed +feathers, to the granaries, or the storage baskets, holding half a ton, +nine feet and nine inches in circumference, three feet deep. Mrs. Jewett +showed me a photograph of one of this sort, in which she sat comfortably +seated with her six-foot son and his wife. This had been in use more +than fifty years, and was as fine as ever. Her one hundred and +twenty-eight baskets represent twenty-eight tribes. In regard to the +shapes and designs, the women seem to have copied straight from nature's +patterns, as seen in acorns, pine cones, seed vessels, etc., so they are +truly artists. + +Figures of men are sometimes woven in: those with heads on represent the +victorious warriors; those decapitated depict the braves vanquished by +the fighters of their special tribe. An open palm is sometimes seen; +this is an emblem of peace. + +Willow wands and stiff long-stemmed grasses are gathered and dried for +these baskets, then woven in coils and increased as they go on, as in a +crochet stitch. It often requires a deal of coaxing and good pay to +secure one of these highly prized "Coras." + +The women were as devoted to gambling as the men, and made flat trays +for this purpose. The dice were eight acorn shells, or half-walnut +shells, first daubed over inside with pitch, and then inlaid with little +shells which represented money. + +I saw a tray and dice purchased most adroitly from an excited gambling +party, who were at the time too much intoxicated to know exactly what +they were doing. After it had been paid for the owner was implored to +sit down and gamble himself, hoping in this way to win more money and +get back the board. It was hard to withstand their forcible appeals, but +the man ran away, and was obliged to hide all night for fear of assault. +Squaws would sometimes bet pieces of flesh from their arms when their +money was gone, and many of them have been seen with rows of scars on +their arms for this reason. No basket can be finished by an Indian woman +until she has ceased to bear children. Then her work is done. + +The Japanese are famous basket-makers, but they do not far excel the +best work found among these untutored workwomen. + +Most curious of all is the fact that a _savant_ connected with the +Smithsonian Institute was amazed when examining a "buck," or man's +plaque, to find it almost exactly like one he had brought from northern +India--similar in weaving, size, and shading. + +And a lady told me that she could make herself understood by those of a +certain tribe in Mexico by speaking to them in Sicilian. Which makes me +think of Joel Chandler Harris and his embarrassment, after publishing +his stories of "Uncle Remus," to receive letters from learned men at +home and abroad, inquiring how this legend that he had given was the +same as one in India, or Egypt, or Siam. + +The art of basketry is rapidly deteriorating, and will soon be lost +unless Indian children in the reservation are taught something of the +old skill by their grandmothers, before the few now living depart for +that happy, unmolested hunting-ground they like to believe in, where I +do hope they will find a land all their own. + +The Mexican drawn-work is seen everywhere for sale, and at moderate +prices--so moderate that any one is foolish to waste eyesight in +imitating it. Each stitch has a name, and is full of meaning to the +patient maker. + +One can easily spend a good deal for curios, such as plaques, cups, +vases, napkin-rings, plates and toothpicks of orange wood, bark +pin-cushions, cat's-eye pins, etchings of all the missions in India ink, +wild-flower, fern, and moss work, and, perhaps most popular of all, the +pictures on orange wood of the burro, the poppy, and pepper and oranges. +Or, if interested in natural history, you can secure a horned toad, a +centipede, or a tarantula, alive or dead, and "set up." + +A horned toad is more easy to care for than the average baby alligator +of Florida, and as a pet is not more exacting, as it can live six months +without eating. + +"Why do some women like horrible things for pets? + +"Mother Eve set the example, and ever since serpents have been in the +front rank of woman's eccentric loves. Cleopatra was fond of tigers and +ferocious beasts, but she turned at last to a snake as the most fitting +creature to do her bidding. + +"Centuries ago the queens of Egypt made pets of horned toads, and the +ugly little reptiles became things of state, and their lives more sacred +than the highest ministers to the court. Daughters of the Nile +worshipped crocodiles." + +A very intelligent man, who has every reason to speak with authority +about the tarantula as found in California, declares that it is not +dangerous. He says they live in ground that has not been disturbed by +the plough. Their hole in the ground is about three fourths of an inch +in diameter and twelve or fourteen inches deep, with only a web over the +top. Many tell us that the tarantula has a lid on the top of his house, +but this is incorrect, as that belongs to the trap-door spider. It is +sold, however, here as a tarantula's nest. This creature dislikes the +winter rains as much as the tourist does, and fills up the entrance of +the nest in October and November, not appearing until May. The greater +number are found on adobe and clay soil. Tarantulas never come out at +night; the male sometimes appears just before sundown, but the female is +seldom seen away from home unless disturbed. They seem to have a model +family life. Mr. Wakely, who has caught more of these spiders than any +living man, does not seem to dread the job in the least. One man goes +ahead and places a small red flag at the opening of the nest; the next +man pours down a little water, which brings Mr. T---- up to see what is +the matter, and then Mr. W---- quietly secures it with a pair of pincers +and puts it in a bottle, and has thus succeeded in catching hundreds, +but has never had a bite. (This last line reminds me of the amateur +angler.) He tells me that there seems to be a general impression that a +tarantula will jump into the second-story window of a house, and, +springing upon the neck of a young lady sitting there, will kill her +instantly. He has never seen one jump three inches. If one leg is broken +off nature soon provides another. The Texas variety is believed to be +more dangerous. I do not know. + +There are rattlesnakes to be seen and heard about the mountains in hot +weather. + +As to buying precious stones, especially opals, in this part of the +country, I think it is wisest to buy opals in the real old Mexico for +yourselves, often very cheaply. The prices rise rapidly here. A water +opal, however beautiful, has no commercial value. It is but an +imprisoned soap-bubble, and is apt to crumble. There are stores where +pretty colored stones can be bought, but the majority get cheated as to +price. + +But we are not paying proper attention to the "panorama." Many have been +led to settle here by taking this picturesque trip; and with plenty of +water oranges pay splendidly. So there is substantial wealth, ever on +the increase, in these new towns. + +By the way, were you ever asked to be a "panorama"? I once had that +honor. A lady came to my house one Sunday morning, and explained that +her husband was dreadfully depressed over a fall in stocks or something, +and she knew I could be "so amusing" if I chose, and wouldn't I get into +her carriage and go with her to amuse said husband, and be a sort of +panorama for the poor man? "I don't want him to be in the panorama," she +said, "nor of the panorama; I want you just to be the panorama by +yourself." I was forced to decline this singular appeal, glad as I +should have been to cheer her dumpy spouse. + +Why, oh why is it, that if persons have the slightest power of being +what is vaguely called "entertaining," they are expected to be ever on +duty at the call of any one who feels a desire for inexpensive +diversion? + +At one hotel I sat by the side of an odd old man, a retired tobacco +merchant of great wealth, who was ready for conversation with all +newcomers, and who seemed to feel that I was not doing my full share as +an entertainer for the masses. He also had the unusual habit of +speaking his thoughts aloud, whether complimentary or otherwise, in +frank soliloquy, like that absent-minded Lord Dudley whom Sydney Smith +alludes to, as meeting and greeting him with effusive cordiality, and +then saying, _sotto voce_, "I suppose I shall have to ask this man home +to dinner." + +But my friend at my elbow had very little of the _sotto_ in his _voce_. +He began in this way: + +"Ahem! I hear you can be funny." No response from person addressed. Then +to himself: "I don't much believe she can do anything--don't look like +it." To me: "Well, now, if you _can_ be funny, why don't you?" I could +not help laughing then. "Yes, if you can, you ought to go into the +parlor every night and show what you can do, and amuse us. It is your +duty. Why, I told Quilletts--you know 'bout Quilletts? awfully funny +feller; good company, you see--says I, 'Quilletts, I like you. Now, if +you'll stay I'll give you a cottage, rent free, all summer (I've got an +island home--lots of us fellers on it--great times we have); but you +must agree to be funny every night, and keep the ball a-rollin'.' Now +we want you to get up and do something to entertain the guests. We want +to be amused--somethin' that will set us laughin'!" + +I replied: "Mr. Brushwood, I understand you are a dealer in tobacco?" + +"Yes, mum; and you won't find finer tobacker anywhere in this world than +what's got my name on it. Here's a picture of my store. Why, Brushwood's +tobacker is known all over the United States." + +"Yes? Well, when I notice you freely distributing that tobacco, bunches +of your choicest brands, papers of the very best for chewing, cigarettes +by the dozen, in the parlor evenings, I'll follow on just behind you, +and try to amuse as a condensed circus. I'm not lacking in philanthropy. +I only need to be roused by your noble example, sustained by your +influence." + +Brushwood looked disgusted, grunted his disapproval, backed his chair +out from the table, and as he walked to the door of the dining-room many +heard him mutter, "She's a queer dick; don't amount to much, anyway; +thought so when I first saw her; impudent, too!" + +As the farmer remarked when he first encountered a sportsman dude, "What +things a feller does meet when he hasn't got his gun!" + +But the train is slowing up, and see, Judge Brown, my old friend of The +Anchorage, is looking for us. No! No "Glenwood"; no "Arlington"; no +"kerridge"! + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +RIVERSIDE. + + + "Knowest thou the land where the lemon trees bloom, + Where the golden orange grows in the deep thickets' gloom, + Where a wind ever soft from the blue heavens blows, + And the groves are of laurel and myrtle and rose?" + +Yes, that describes Riverside, and reads like a prophecy. If Pasadena is +a big garden with pretty homes scattered all through its shade and +flowers, then Riverside is an immense orange grove, having one city-like +street, with substantial business blocks and excellent stores, two +banks, one in the Evans block, especially fine in all its architecture +and arrangements, and the rest is devoted by the land-owners to raising +oranges and making them pay. You will see flowers enough to overwhelm a +Broadway florist, every sort of cereal, every fruit that grows, in prime +condition for the table ten months out of the twelve. Three hundred +sunny days are claimed here out of the three hundred and sixty-five. +They are once in a while bothered by a frost, but that is "unusual." +Before 1870 this was a dusty desert of decomposed granite. What has +caused the change? Scientific irrigation and plenty of it. Or, as Grant +Allen puts it, "mud." He says: "Mud is the most valuable material in the +world. It is by mud we live; without it we should die. Mud is filling up +the lakes. Mud created Egypt, and mud created Lombardy." + +Yes, one can get rich here by turning dust into mud. It is said to be +the richest town "per capita" in all California of the same size, $1100 +being the average allowance for each person. This is solemnly vouched +for by reliable citizens. And they have no destitute poor--a remarkable +record. The city and district are said to enjoy an annual income of +$1,500,000 from the fruit alone, and there is a million of unused money +in the two banks. + +Irrigation is better than rain, for the orange growers can turn on a +shower or a stream whenever and wherever needed. It requires courage +and faith to go straight into a desert with frowning mountains, big, +little, and middle-sized, all about, and not an available drop of water, +and say, "I'm going to settle right here and turn this desert into a +beautiful home, and start a prosperous, wealthy city. All that this +rocky, barren plain needs is water and careful cultivation, and I will +give it both." That was Judge Brown's decision, and the result shows his +wisdom. No one agreed with him; it was declared that colonists could not +be induced to try it. But he could not relinquish the idea. He was +charmed by the dry, balmy air, so different from Los Angeles. He saw the +smooth plain was well adapted for irrigation, and Santa Ana could be +made to furnish all the water needed. So that it is really to him we owe +the pleasure of seeing these orchards, vineyards, avenues, and homes. +Where once the coyote and jack-rabbit had full sway, land now sells at +prices from $400 to $3000 per acre. There are no fences--at least, there +is but one in all Riverside. You see everywhere fine, well-trimmed +cypress hedges with trees occasionally cut in fantastic, elaborate +designs. There are many century plants about the grounds; they blossom +in this climate after twelve years, and die after the tall homely flower +has come to maturity. The roadsides have pretty flowers planted all +along, giving a gay look, and the very weeds just now are covered with +blossoms. Irrigation is carried on most scientifically, the water coming +from a creek and the "cienaga," which I will explain later. There are +several handsome avenues shaded with peppers, and hedges twenty feet +high, through which are obtained peeps at enchanting homes; but the +celebrated drive which all tourists are expected to take is that to and +fro through Magnolia Avenue, twelve miles long. The name now seems illy +chosen, as only a few magnolia trees were originally planted at each +corner, and these have mostly died, so that the whole effect is more +eucalyptical, palmy, and pepperaneous than it is magnolious. People come +here "by chance the usual way," and buy because they see the chance to +make money. You are told pretty big stories of successes; the failures +are not alluded to. + +I saw a large and prosperous place belonging to a woman of business +ability, who came out all alone, took up a government grant, ploughed +and planted and irrigated, sent for a sister to help her, sold land at +great prices, and is now a wealthy woman. If I had not passed through +such depressing and enthusiasm-subduing experiences as an agriculturist +in the East I might be tempted here. I did look with interest at the +ostrich farms, and had visions of great profits from feathers, eggs, and +egg-shells. But it takes a small fortune to get started in that +business, as eggs are twenty dollars each, and the birds are sometimes +five hundred dollars apiece. And they are subject to rheumatism and a +dozen other diseases, and a blow from a kicking bird will kill one. I +concluded to let that dream be unrealized. Did you ever hear of the +nervous invalid who was told by his physician to buy a Barbary ostrich +and imitate him exactly for three months? It was a capital story. The +lazy dyspeptic was completely cured. As a hen woman I will remark _en +passant_ that it is hard to raise poultry in this part of California. +The climate is too exhilarating, and if the head of each chicken does +not get a drop of oil at once it dies of brain disease. + +Corn does not thrive. Mr. Brown at first put down ten acres to corn. It +looked promising, but grew all to stalk. These stalks were over twelve +feet high, but corn was of no value, so he sold the stalks for eighty +dollars, and started his oranges. + +The English are largely interested here, and have invested two or three +millions, which will pay large interest to their grandchildren. Their +long avenue is loyally named "Victoria." A thrifty Canadian crazed by +the "boom," the queerest mental epidemic or delusion that ever took hold +of sensible people, bought some stony land just under Rubidoux Mountain +for $4000. It was possibly worth $100, but in those delirious days many +did much worse. It is amazing to see what hard work and water and good +taste will do for such a place. He has blasted the rocks, made fountains +and cisterns, planted several acres of strawberries, set out hundreds +of orange trees, has a beautiful garden, two pretty cottages, and some +day he will get back his original price for a building site, for the +view is grand. + +Riverside, while leading the orange-producing section of Southern +California, is not exactly the location which would have been selected +by the original settlers had they possessed the experience of the +producers of today. The oranges do not have to be washed, as in some +other places; they are not injured by smut or scale; the groves are +faultless in size of trees, shape, and taste of fruit. One orange +presented to me weighed thirty-one ounces. But the growers, having lost +$1,000,000 by Jack Frost several years ago, are obliged now to resort to +the use of lighted tar-pots on cold nights to make a dense smudge to +keep the temperature above the danger line. One man uses petroleum in +hundred-gallon casks, one for each acre, from which two pipes run along +between the rows of trees, with half a dozen elbows twenty feet apart, +over which are flat sheet-iron pans, into which the oil spatters as it +vaporizes. An intensely hot flame keeps off the frost. This I do not +hear spoken of at Riverside; you must go to a rival for any disagreeable +information. At Pasadena their severe winds are called "Riversiders"; at +Anaheim they are "Santa Anas"; and friends write me from damp Los +Angeles to the dry air of Riverside, "How can you stay in that 'damp' +place?" The inhabitants of Riverside do not concede that Pasadena is a +place for orange growers. At Redlands, luckily above frost terrors, the +terrible losses at Riverside from that trouble are profusely narrated. +San Diego gets its share of humorous belittlement from all. You hear the +story quoted of the shrewd Chinee who went to that city to look for +business, where one hears much of future developments, but did not +settle, saying, "It has too muchee bym-bye." Friends, and especially +hotel proprietors, exclaim in disgusted astonishment, "What! going to +Riverside? Why, there's nothing there but oranges." + +I find more: fine and charming drives, scenery that differs from that +of Pasadena, "that poem of nature set to music beneath the swaying +rhythm of the pine forests of the lofty Sierra Madres," but is equally +enjoyable and admirable. + +Still, above all, and permeating every other interest, is the _orange_. +As to dampness, a physician threatened with consumption, and naturally +desirous of finding the driest air, began while at Coronado Beach a +simple but sure test for comparative degrees of "humidity" by just +hanging a woolen stocking out of his window at night. At that place it +was wet all through, quite moist at Los Angeles, very much less so at +Pasadena, dry as a bone or red herring or an old-fashioned sermon at +Riverside. Stockings will tell! (From April to September is really the +best time to visit Coronado.) I experienced a very sudden change from a +warm, delightful morning to an afternoon so penetrating by cold that I +really suffered during a drive, although encased in the heaviest of +Jaeger flannels, a woolen dress, and a heavy wrap. I thought of the +rough buffalo coat my uncle, a doctor, used to put on when called out +on a winter night in New Hampshire, and wished I was enveloped in +something like it, with a heated freestone, for feet and a hot potato +for each hand. If I can make my readers understand that these sudden +changes make flannels necessary, and that one needs to be as careful +here as in Canada as regards catching cold from night air and these +unexpected rigors, I shall feel, as the old writers used to say, "that I +have not written entirely in vain." + +In one day you can sit under the trees in a thin dress and be too warm +if the sun is at its best, and then be half frozen two hours later if +the wind is in earnest and the sun has retired. In the sun, Paradise; in +shade, protect yourself! + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +A LESSON ON THE TRAIN. + +"The Schoolmistress Abroad." + + +All through Southern California I hear words of whose meaning I have no +idea until they are explained. For instance, a friend wrote from San +Diego in February: "Do not longer delay your coming; the mesas are +already bright with wild-flowers." A mesa is a plateau, or upland, or +high plain. And then there are fifty words in common use retained from +the Spanish rule that really need a glossary. As, arroyo, a brook or +creek; and arroyo seco, a dry creek or bed of extinct river. + +Alameda, an avenue. + +Alamitos, little cotton-wood. + +Alamo, the cotton-wood; in Spain, the poplar. + +Alma, soul. + +That is all I have learned in A's. Then for B's. + +I asked at Riverside what name they had for a big, big rock that rose +right out of the plain, and was told it was a "butte." That gave a +meaning to Butte City, and was another lesson. + +Banos means baths, and barranca is a small ravine. + +Then, if we go on alphabetically, cajon, pronounced _cahone_, is a box. + +Calaveras, skull. + +Campo, plain. + +Ciénaga, a marshy place. + +Campo sancto, cemetery. + +Canyon or cañon, gulch. + +Cruz, cross. + +Colorado, red. + +Some of the Spanish words are so musical it is a pleasure to repeat them +aloud; as: + +Ensenada, bright. + +Escondido, hidden. + +Fresno means ash. + +I inquired the meaning of "Los Gatos," and was kindly informed it was +"The Gates," but it really is "The Cats." + +Goleta, the name of another town, means schooner. + +The Spanish _j_ nearly always has the sound of _h_. + +Jacinto, Hyacinth. + +José, Joseph. + +Lago is lake; pond, laguna; and for a little lake the pretty name +lagunita. "Lagunita Rancho" is the name of an immense fruit ranch in +Vacaville--and, by the way, vaca is cow. + +Madre is mother; nevada, snowy. + +San Luis Obispo is San Luis the Bishop. + +El Paso is The Pass. + +Pueblo, a town. + +Pinola is parched corn ground fine between stones, eaten with milk. + +Pinoche, chopped English walnuts cooked in brown sugar--a nice candy. + +Rancho, a farm; and rio, river. + +Everything is a ranch out here; the word in the minds of many stands +for home. A little four-year-old boy was overheard praying the other day +that when he died the Lord would take him to His ranch. + +Sacramento is the sacrament. + +Sierra, saw-toothed; an earthquake is a temblor. + +San and Santa, the masculine and feminine form of saint. + +As the men who laid out a part of New York evidently travelled with a +classical dictionary, and named the towns from that, as Rome, Syracuse, +Palmyra, Utica, so the devout Spanish explorer named the places where he +halted by the name of the saint whose name was on the church calendar +for that day. And we have San Diego (St. James), San Juan (St. John), +San Luis, San José, San Pedro, Santa Inez, Santa Maria, Santa Clara, +and, best of all, Santa Barbara, to which town we are now going. + +The Mexican dialect furnishes words which are now permanently +incorporated in our common speech; as: + +Adobe, sun-dried brick. + +Cañon, gorge. + +Tules, rush or water-weed. (Bret Harte's _Apostle of the Tules_.) + +Bonanza, originally _fair weather at sea_, now _good fortune in mining_. + +Fandango, dance of the people. + +Corral, a place to collect stock. (A farmer of the West never says +cow-pen, or barnyard, or farmyard, but corral.) + +Cascarones, egg-shells filled with finely cut gold or silver paper, or +perfumes, broken on head of young man, in friendly banter or challenge +to a dance. + +Burro, small kind of donkey. + +Broncho, wild, untamed animal. + +Sombrero, hat. + +Rebozo, scarf. + +Serape, blanket. + +Lariat, rawhide rope. + +Hacienda, estate. + +While we are rattling along there is so little to see until we reach +the ocean, that we may as well be recalling a few more facts worth +knowing. At Riverside I learned that the leaf of the orange tree was +larger when it first came out than later. It grows smaller as it +matures. And most people say that the fig tree has no blossom, the fruit +coming right out of the branch. But there is a blossom, and you have to +cut the fruit open to find it. Just split a young fig in two and notice +the perfect blossom in the centre. + +They say it takes two Eastern men to believe a Californian, but it only +takes one Eastern woman to tell true stories which do seem almost too +big for belief. One man got lost in a mustard field, and he was on +horseback too. + +I saw at San Diego a tomato vine only eight months old, which was +nineteen feet high and twenty-five feet wide, and loaded full of fruit +in January. A man picking the tomatoes on a stepladder added to the +effect. And a Gold of Ophir rose-bush at Pasadena which had 200,000 +blossoms. This is vouched for by its owner, a retired missionary, who +cannot be doubted. There are truly true pumpkins that weigh 256 pounds +and are seven feet in circumference; cucumbers seven feet long; seven +beets weighed 500 pounds; three bites to a strawberry; and the +eucalyptus shoots often grow twenty feet the first year, carrying with +them in their rapid ascension the stakes to which they were tied. All +this is true. But here are two stories which may be doubtful, just to +show what anecdotes are current in California. "A man was on top of a +California pumpkin chopping off a piece with an axe, when it dropped in. +He pulled up his ladder and put it down on the inside to look for it. +While groping about he met a man, who exclaimed, 'Hello! What are you +doing here?' 'Looking for my axe.' 'Gosh! you might as well give that +up. I lost my horse and cart in here three days ago, and haven't found +'em yet!'" + +"A farmer raised one thousand bushels of popcorn and stored it in a +barn. The barn caught fire, and the corn began to pop and filled a +ten-acre field. An old mare in a neighboring pasture had defective +eyesight, saw the corn, thought it was snow, and lay down and froze to +death." + +As to serious farming, and how it pays in this part of the State, I have +clipped several paragraphs from the papers, and will give three as +samples of the whole. I desire also to communicate the cheerful news +that there are no potato bugs to make life seem too hard to bear. + + +"RAISED ON TWENTY ACRES. + +"How much land do I need in California? is a question often asked. The +answer is readily made: as much as you can profitably and economically +work. A gentleman has made the following exhibit in the Los Angeles +Chamber of Commerce: 'Raised on twenty acres of ground, 2500 boxes of +oranges, 1500 boxes of lemons, 37,000 pounds of grapes, 2000 pounds of +pears, 35,000 pounds of apples, 15,000 pounds of berries, black and red, +1000 pounds of English walnuts. Besides nectarines, apricots, plums, +three crops of potatoes, 500 pounds of crab-apples, and one acre of +alfalfa kept for cows, and flowers of different varieties. These +oranges are worth on the trees $3500, the lemons $3000, the grapes $370, +pears $30, apples $75, berries $30, walnuts $80. The total will be +$7085, and all the products not counted. That surely is more than the +crops of a half section in Kansas or Illinois will sell for.' Every one +may not do as well, but they can approach it, and if they do, twenty +acres is quite enough." + + +"PROFITS OF BERRY CULTURE. + +"Speaking of the profits of growing strawberries in Southern California, +the Covina _Argus_ gives some interesting facts and figures. That paper +says: 'One of the growers stated to us that last year he picked and +shipped from three acres the enormous amount of fourteen tons. These +berries brought as high as fifteen cents and as low as four cents per +pound, but netted an average of about eight cents per pound, or $2240. +That would make an acre of berries produce a cash return of $746.66â…”, +which, considering the shortness of the berry season, from four to five +months, is a pretty good income on the money invested.'" + + +"PROFIT IN ALMONDS. + +"M. Treat, an authority on almond culture, has contributed the following +to the Woodland _Mail_: 'This year from 190 California paper-shell +almond trees (five years old), covering two and five-sevenths acres, I +gathered 3502 pounds of nuts, which sold in Chicago at twenty-two cents +a pound. This is $316.82 to the acre--a little over $4 to the tree--18½ +pounds to the tree. When these same trees were four years old they +averaged about three pounds, and in eight years they will double what +they bore at five. They will at eight years bear full 40 pounds to the +tree. At twelve years they will bear fully 100 pounds to the tree +without the least exertion. This is at seventy trees to the acre, and +reckoning at twenty-two cents to the pound, $1540 per acre. Now these +are nothing but plain, bare, raw facts. + +"'Almond trees live and do well for fifty years, and in some places in +Europe when fifteen years old bear from 150 to 200 pounds per tree.'" + + +At Saugus Junction Mr. Tolfree has established one of his famous +restaurants, where I can conscientiously urge you to get out and dine. +Every course is delicious. + +Ventura County is partially devoted to the culture of Beans. I use a +capital because Beans represent Culture, or are associated with it in +one State at least, and the very meaning of the word is property, money, +from the French _biens_--goods. I wonder how many of my Boston friends +knew that! I did not until a friend showed it to me in Brewer's +phrase-book, where I also learned that beans played an important part in +the politics of the Greeks, being used in voting by ballot. I always had +a liking for beans, but I have a profound respect for them since viewing +the largest Lima Bean Ranch in the world, belonging to my friend Mr. +D. W. Thompson, of Santa Barbara. There are 2500 acres of rich land, +level as a house floor, bounded by a line of trees on one side and the +ocean on the other; 1600 acres are planted to beans, and the profits +are nearly $60,000 yearly. Thirty-six tons of beans were used this year +in planting. This could not be done in the East, but beans do not need +to be "poled" here, as, influenced by the dreamy atmosphere, they show +no desire to climb, but just lie lazily along the ground. Still, there +is a deal of work connected with the business. Dairying, building, +horseshoeing, repairing of machinery, are all done on the place. "As +soon as the spring rains are over, eleven gang ploughs, four ploughs to +a gang, each gang drawn by six horses, plough about seven acres per +day." Then the harrowing and planting in the same big way. During the +entire summer these vines grow without a drop of water, freshened daily +by the heavy sea fogs. Harvesting and threshing all done by machinery. +The steam thresher would amaze some of our overworked, land-poor +farmers. About one hundred and twenty carloads of beans are annually +shipped from this ranch, reserving the tons needed for seed. + +And all along the way fine ranches are seen, where beans are seen +growing alone, or planted between the long even rows of fruit trees. Mr. +Thompson also owns a large hog ranch. But dear me! We are now skirting +the beautiful ocean curve which leads to the "Channel City"--so near the +beach that the waves almost touch the rails and the dash of the surf +seems under the cars. See how fine a situation! The coast line taking a +sudden and most fortunate turn, the trend of mountain range and plain +land is east and west, instead of north and south. Sheltered by +mountains and mesas, and nestled in the green foot-hills, with the ocean +breeze tempered by a chain of islands, making a serene harbor, Santa +Barbara has much to make it the rival of San Diego and Pasadena. Pork +and beans must now give way to legend and romance, martyred virgin, holy +monks, untutored "neophytes," handsome Castilians, dashing Mexicans, +energetic pioneers, the old Spanish, the imported Chinese, the eastern +element now thoroughly at home, and the inevitable, ubiquitous invalid, +globe-trotter, and hotel habitué--each type or stratum as distinctly +marked as in a pousse café, or jelly cake. What a comparison! I ask +Santa Barbara's pardon, and beg not to be struck with lightning, or +destroyed by gunpowder.--"_Yes, to the Arlington._" + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +SANTA BARBARA. + + + "Saints will aid if men will call, + For the blue sky bends o'er all." + +Sweet sixteen and an "awful dad." Santa Barbara and Dioscurus. Such a +cruel story, and so varied in version that the student of sacred legend +gets decidedly puzzled. The fair-haired daughter was advised secretly by +Origen, who sent a pupil disguised as a physician to instruct her in the +Christian faith. She insisted on putting three windows instead of two +into the bathroom of the tower to which her father sent her, either to +prevent her from marrying or to imprison her until she would wed one of +the many gay young suitors. These three windows showed her belief in the +Trinity, which she could not have learned from Origen, as among +Christians he was regarded as heretical, and his followers were +Unitarians and Universalists combined, adding the cheerful theory of the +"second opportunity" and that all punishment from sin would have an end, +yet clinging to the old pagan mythology and believing that sun, moon, +stars, and the ocean all had souls--a "Neo-Platonist." + +Refusing to recant, Barbara was arraigned and condemned to death. Her +energetic paternal evidently had heard the maxim, "If you want anything +done, do it yourself." His heavy blows fell soft as feathers. She seemed +in sweet slumber. So he drew his sword, cut off her head, and was +instantly killed by lightning from Heaven. Thus ends the history of two +"Early Fathers." + +But sweet St. Barbara will never be forgotten. She is the patroness of +artillery soldiers, and protects from lightning and sudden death. In the +many pictures where she appears she carries a feather, or the martyr's +sword and palm, or a book; and the three windows are often seen. She is +the only Santa who bears the cup and wafer. + +The appreciative Spaniards honored her memory by bestowing her pretty +name on the choicest spot of the coast, a belt of land seventy miles +long and thirty-five wide, from Point Concepcion to Buena Ventura. No +one can dare to doubt this tragic tale, for Barbara's head may still be +seen preserved as a relic in the temple of All Saints at Rome. I do not +want to be too severe in my estimate of the Roman noble, Dioscurus. An +old lady who never spoke ill of any one, when called upon to say +something good of the devil, said, "We might all imitate his +persistence;" and this impulsive demon was certainly a creature who, if +he had an unpleasant duty confronting him, attended to it himself. + +The first navigator who landed on the coast of Santa Barbara, or on one +of the four islands, was Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, in 1542. He is buried +on San Miguel (pronounced _Magell_). The Indians (and the entire Indian +population at that time amounted to 22,000) were exceedingly glad to +welcome the strangers, much better behaved than those found at San +Diego, who stripped the clothing from those too ill to defend +themselves. Perhaps a reason for this superiority may be found in the +fact that these tribes were entirely naked, and had no desire for any +conventional covering. They serenaded their new friends so loudly that +sleep or rest was impossible, and offered their most delicious food and +free use of canoes. They ate seeds, fruit, fish, locusts; hunted rabbit, +hare, and deer; dried the meat of the latter on trees; placed acorns in +a sieve basket, rinsed and boiled them. As every race is unhappy without +an intoxicating drink and something to chew or smoke, they extracted a +bitter beverage from a certain seed, and used a root in place of +tobacco. + +These Channel Indians let their hair grow so long that they could make +braids and fasten them round the face with stone rings. The visitors +spoke of the "Island of the Bearded People." They had substantial brush +huts, supported by pillars bearing inscriptions supposed to allude to +their religion, and they enjoyed dancing to the music of bone flutes. +For gifts, they most desired red calico and chocolate. + +Cabrillo's men found a primitive temple on one of the islands, and in it +an unknown god or idol. One of the eight original tribes had a form of +worship strongly resembling a Turkish bath. The men sat round a hot fire +until drenched in perspiration; then plunged into a pool of cold water. +The women were not permitted to be devout in this "cleanliness next to +godliness" manner. It was a luxury and prerogative the noble braves +wanted entirely for themselves. (We see something similar in our own +progressive, enlightened churches, where women are expected to provide +and pack clothing for missionary boxes, attend unfailingly on the stated +means of grace, visit and nurse the sick and poor members, deny +themselves for charity, listen reverently to stupid discourses on the +unknown, delivered with profound certainty that approaches omniscience, +but are not allowed to "speak out in meetin'," or to have the honor of +being represented by women delegates at denominational conventions, or +clubs and councils. They are to lead heavenward, but earthly pleasures +and honors are strictly "reserved"! About the same, isn't it?) + +When Father Junipero Sena reached Santa Barbara on his mission-starting +pilgrimage, he sent for Mexican artisans, who taught his converts all +the industrial arts. They were taught to support themselves, then a +piece of ground was parcelled out to each, with a yoke of oxen and +farming utensils. Serra formed eleven missions; ten were added later. He +built the great aqueduct which is still used in Santa Barbara. All honor +to his memory! "There lingers around Santa Barbara more of the aroma and +romance of a bygone civilization, when the worthy Padres set an example +of practical Christianity to the Indian aborigines that we would do well +to emulate, than is found elsewhere in the State." + +In the good old days a person could travel from San Diego to San +Francisco and not expend one shilling. The Mission Fathers would furnish +saddle, horse, or a comfortable bed, meals, and the Spanish host would +leave in the guest-chamber a small heap of silver covered by a cloth, +and the stranger, if needy, was expected to take some of it to supply +his wants. + +Would you like to see a specimen of the Indian dialect used by the +"Bearded People"? I can count to five in the Siujtu language--or, at +least, I don't care to go much further: paca, sco, masa, scu, itapaca; +twenty is sco-quealisco; and to-morrow, huanahuit. + +The islands are now only occupied by flocks of sheep, sheared twice a +year, and paying their owners a good profit; $100,000 one year from +Santa Rosa alone. The wool gets full of seed, and it is not the finest +quality, but this is counterbalanced by the quantity. + +Many large abalone shells are found on San Miguel. They are pried off +with a crow-bar, the shells are polished for sale, made into buttons, +etc., and the meat is dried and sent to China, where it is ground and +made into soup. It has been used here, and pronounced by some to be +equal to terrapin, and by others to closely resemble leather. + +These islands are always a delight to look upon. As the state of the +atmosphere varies they seem near or far away, clearly defined, or with a +hazy outline. But in sunlight or shadow, mist or mirage, they are ever +beautiful. Within the peaceful channel ships are safe while a wind storm +rages just beyond. The government sends big war-ships here for a trial +of speed. None of these islands are now desirable for residence. There +is no natural supply of fresh water, and the sheep rely on the moisture +left by the heavy fogs, and on a certain plant which holds water in its +cup-like blossom. I hear that at Catalina the goats, deprived of their +natural pabulum of hoop-skirts, tomato cans, and old shoes, feed on +clover and drink the dew. + +That's what this climate does for a goat. I do not dare to make many +statements in regard to novelties in natural history since one poor +woman poetized upon the coyote "howling" in the desert, and roused +hundreds of critics to deny that coyotes ever howled. And a scientific +student came to Santa Barbara not so long ago, and found on one of these +islands a species of tailless fox, and hastened to communicate the +interesting anomaly to the Smithsonian Institute. It seems that the +otter hunters trapped these foxes for their tails, then let them go. + +If it were not for these blunders I would state that roosters seem to +keep awake most of the night in Southern California, and can be heard +crowing at most irregular hours. Considering the risks, I refrain. + +The islands were named by a pious priest, who made the map; and those we +see in looking out from Santa Barbara are San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa +Cruz, Ana, Capa. San Nicholas Island is interesting as having been the +abode for sixteen years of a solitary Indian woman, a feminine Robinson +Crusoe, without even a Friday, who was left by mistake when the rest of +the Indians were carried away by order of the Mission Fathers. Two of +the men who at last succeeded in finding her gave their testimony, which +has been preserved; and one of them, Charlie Brown, is still alive, and +likes to tell the strange story. It seems she had run back to get her +child, and the ship went off without her. Nidever tells his story in +this way: + +"We scattered off two or three hundred yards apart. She had a little +house made of brush and had a fire; she was sitting by the fire with a +little knife; she was working with it. She had a bone; all came up and +looked at her; she had a heap of roots--that is what she lived on--and +had little sacks to carry them in. As soon as we sat down she put a lump +of them to roast on the fire. Finally we got ready to go, and we made +signs for her to come with us. She understood the signs for her to come +with us; she picked up her things to take them on board." + +She had a dress made of duck skins, sewed together with the sinews of a +seal, with needles made of bone--an eye drilled through. This dress the +priests sent to Rome. + +The demijohn in which she carried water was made out of rushes and +stopped with asphaltum. She was making one of these water bottles. She +heated small round stones in the fire and put them in the asphaltum, and +then lined the bottle, making it tight. She had no matches, of course, +nor even a tinder-box, but started fire by rubbing two sticks together. + +She said her child was eaten up by wolves. None of the Indians +understood her dialect; finally one woman was found who could talk to +her a little, who had been raised on the same island. The woman was +found in 1853. She seemed happy and contented, and would go round to +different houses and dance the Indian dances. She was a great curiosity; +twenty or thirty would go along with her. Many who were sailing by would +stop just to see her. + +The other hunters had noticed small human tracks, but never could see +any one. At last several men were scattered all over the island, and +Charlie Brown was the first to discover her. He thought at first it was +only a black crow sitting on a whalebone. I give his version, as his +language is far more picturesque and vivid than my paraphrase would be. +He says: + +"She had built a brush fence about two feet high to break the wind. The +sun was coming in her face. She was skinning a seal. The dog when he +noticed me he began to growl. I thought if she should run. I stepped +right round her, and she bowed as if she knew me before, and when the +Indians came up they all kneeled down, and when she saw there was some +of her color, she held out some of her food and offered all some. + +"I took her by the shoulder, and I said, '_Varmoose_,' and she +understood at once. I took everything she had, and she took a big seal +head in basket. We all had something to carry. Then she had a little +brand of fire, and she took that away and wobbled along with a strange +kind of a step like until we came to a watering-place about fifty feet +down the bank, and they all went down there and she went too, and she +sat down there and we watched to see what she would do, and she washed +herself over; her hair was all rotting away, a kind of bleached by the +sun, and we got to the vessel and she kneeled down, and we had a stove +right on deck and she crawled to the stove and we gave her a piece of +biscuit and she ate like a good fellow. It came on to blow; old man +Nidever had some bed-ticking. I made her a dress, and gave her a man's +shirt. She was tickled to death. If I was where she was she would hold +up her dress and point that I made it." + +He was asked how she happened to be left, repeated Nidever's story, and +added: "She found they were all gone, and commenced to hollo. No answer, +and hunted round and saw the tracks and found they went to lower part of +the island. When she got there found the vessel going away, and she +called, 'Mancyavina,' but it never came. She put her head on the ground +and laid on the ground and cried, and they never came. + +"The priest here had all the Indians in Santa Barbara and Santa Inez to +see if they understood her. They could understand some words, but not +all. She got baptized, and they made her a Christian and everything. A +steamer came up from below; the captain offered to take her up and show +her, but old man Nidever would not agree. She died; they gave her green +corn and melons, and they were too much for her. She made knives of +bone and wood, and had pointed nails for catching fish. She had ropes +nicely twisted with sinews, twisted as true as any rope-maker could +make, and had bottles made of grass, and dishes of wood with handles; +she put the feathers next her skin to keep warm." + +I will only add that wild dogs were numerous, and she tamed them for +friends. The priests called her Juana Maria, and I think the name of the +island should be changed in her honor. I doubt if Santa Barbara herself +could have done as well under similar circumstances. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +HER CITY AND COUNTY. + + + "Syrian apples, Othmanee quinces, + Limes and citrons and apricots, + And wines that are known to Eastern princes." + +In walking through the streets of Santa Barbara you may still see the +various types, but not so clearly defined as of old. Holy Fathers still +intone the service within the massive mission walls; they still +cultivate the large garden, from which woman is sedulously excluded. But +the faces are German and Irish. At a street corner two men are talking +earnestly, and as you pass you get a glance from Mexican eyes, dark and +soft, but the hair shows Indian blood. A real old Mexican vaquero rides +by in the genuine outfit, well worn and showing long use; next a +carriage full of fashionable visitors; then a queerer combination than +the Anglomaniac with his trousers legs turned up if the cable reports a +rainy day in London. This is the American vaquero--usually a short, fat +man with dumpy legs, who dons a flapping sombrero, buys a new Mexican +saddle, wooden stirrups, and leather riata, sometimes adding a coil of +rope at left side, wears the botas with a corduroy suit at dinner at +hotel, and doesn't know at all how comical an appearance he presents. +The very next to pass is one of the pioneers, who, although worth a +million or more, puts on no style, and surveys the mongrel in front with +a twinkle in his eye. Every one should own a horse or pony or burro +here, for the various drives are the greatest charm of the place. +Through all Southern California the happy children ride to school, where +the steeds, fastened to fence in front of building, wait patiently in +line, like Mary's lamb. But in Santa Barbara you see mere tots on +horseback, who look as if it were no new accomplishment. I believe the +mothers put them on gentle ponies to be cared for, or safe, as mothers +in general use the cradle or high-chair. One of the old Mexican +residents of Santa Barbara, when over eighty years of age, had the +misfortune to break his leg. He lay in bed uneasily until a surgeon +could be summoned and the fractured bones set and duly encased in +plaster. He then insisted on being carried out and placed upon his +favorite horse, where he sat during each day with patient serenity until +the damage was repaired by nature. + +The drives are all delightful. You cannot make a mistake; there are +twenty-eight drives distinct and beautiful. Those best known are, to the +Mission Cañon, to the Lighthouse, to Montecito and Carpenteria, Cooper's +Ranch, through the far-famed Ojai Valley, and the stage or coaching trip +to San Luis Obispo, not forgetting La Vina Grande (the big grapevine), +the trunk eighteen inches in diameter, foliage covering 10,000 square +feet, producing in one year 12,000 pounds of grapes; and the Cathedral +Oaks. I jotted down a few facts at the Lighthouse _a la_ Jingle in +_Pickwick Papers_: gleaming white tower, black lantern, rising from neat +white cottage, green window-shutters, light 180 feet above sea-level, +fine view from balcony, fields of young barley down to water's edge, +bluest blue in sea and sky, the lamp holds only one quart of oil, +reflectors do big business, considering, throwing the light 417 miles. + +The keeper, a woman, has been there over thirty years, never goes away +for a single night, trim, quaint, and decided, doesn't want to be +written up, will oblige her, don't believe a woman ever did so much good +with a quart of kerosene daily before. Been a widow a long time, heard +of one woman, wife of lighthouse-keeper, he died, she too stout to be +gotten out of the one room, next incumbent married her. + +Montecito, as Roe described it, is a village of charming gardens and +green lawns, with a softer climate even than Santa Barbara--a most +desirable situation for an elegant country retreat. I had the privilege +of visiting the home of Mr. W. P. Gould, a former resident of Boston, +who has one of the most perfect places I have ever seen. He has been +experimenting this year with olive oil in one room of his large house +for curing lemons, and has perfected a machine which expresses the +"virgin oil" without cracking a single pit or stone. This is a great +improvement, as one crushed stone will give an acrid taste to a quart of +oil. There is a fashion in fruits as much as in bonnets or sleeves. +Olive culture is just now the fad. Pears, prunes, almonds, walnuts, have +each had their day, or their special boom. Pomona is headquarters for +the olive industry. Nursery men there sold over 500,000 trees last year. +The tree does not require the richest soil. Hon. Elwood Cooper's olive +oil is justly famous, but the machinery designed by Mr. Gould makes a +much purer oil, pronounced by connoisseurs to be the finest in the +world. The olives are sun-dried; the ponderous rollers and keen knives +of the masher mash the fruit, and every after-process is the perfection +of cleanliness and skill. There is a nutty sweetness about this oil, and +a clear amber color, which makes it most desirable for the fastidious +invalid. + +This new process has been purchased by a company who are going to try to +give the country what it has never known before--pure olive oil, free +from a bit of the stone. No pure oil is brought to our country. The +public think the price too high; they prefer to buy cotton-seed oil at +thirty-five cents a gallon, and this is adulterated with peanuts, +sunflowers, and so on. This will do for the masses, but the best is none +too good if it can be found. + +Few appreciate the medicinal value of olive oil. Nations making use +regularly of this and the fruit are freed from dyspepsia. A free use in +the United States would round out Brother Jonathan's angular spareness +of form, and make him less nervous and less like the typical Yankee of +whom the witty Grace Greenwood said: "He looks as if the Lord had made +him and then pinched him." One does not see the orange groves here, but +the lemon trees and walnuts and olives are an agreeable change--just for +a change. + +"Who ever thinks of connecting such a commonplace article of diet as the +lemon with the romantic history of ill-fated Anne Boleyn? Yet, +indirectly, she was the cause of its first introduction into England, +and so into popular notice. Henry VIII., who, if he rid himself of his +wives like a brute, certainly won them like a prince, gave such splendid +feasts and pageants in honor of the coronation of Anne and of their +previous nuptials as had seldom been accorded to queens of the royal +blood. These kingly entertainments were in turn followed by the great +civic feast of London, for which the whole world was searched for +delicacies to add to the splendor. At one such banquet, graced by the +presence of the royal pair, a lemon was introduced as an elegant +novelty. To an epicure such as Henry, the acquisition of a castle in +France would have proved less acceptable, and such was the importance +attached to the discovery--so says an old biographer--that a special +record was made of the fact that the cost of this precious lemon was six +silver pennies." + +We hear nothing of irrigation, but almost everything will thrive without +it. The soil grows well all varieties of fruits found in the Eastern and +New England States, besides all the semi-tropical fruits, as guavas, +loquats, persimmons, dates, etc. As the Rev. Mr. Jackson says: "Could +it be shown that the primitive Eden bore as many fruits pleasant to the +taste, it would add a new pang to the thought of original sin." + +The number of native trees seems small, but trees have been naturalized +here from every part of the world. The pepper tree is from Peru, also +the quinine tree: from Chili, the monkey tree and the Norfolk Island +pine. + +Mr. Cooper imported the eucalyptus from Australia. It grows rapidly, and +is planted for windbreaks. It is used for firewood, and when cut down +nearly to the ground will start up with the same old courage and +ambition. Its roots are so eager for water that they make long detours, +sometimes even climbing up and down a stone wall, if it is in their +route, or into a well. From the same country comes the acacia, the +rubber tree, and a large number of shrubs. New Zealand contributes her +share, and to China and Japan they are indebted for the camphor tree, +the gingko, the loquat, and the chestnuts. To South Africa they are +indebted for the silver tree, and from the northern part of that +country the date-palm and the tamarind. + +One sees side by side here, and in Pasadena, trees from almost opposite +climes: the New England elm and a cork tree, a cedar of Lebanon and a +maple or an English oak. Then the glorious palm--twenty-two varieties in +Montecito Valley alone. + +Sydney Smith said of the fertility of Australia, "Tickle her with a hoe +and she laughs with a harvest." But in California even the hoe is not +needed, for "volunteer crops" come up all by themselves, and look better +than ours so carefully cultivated. They say that if a Chinaman eats a +watermelon under a tree the result is a fine crop of melons next year. +And I read of a volunteer tomato plant ploughed down twice that measured +twelve feet square, and bore thousands of small red tomatoes. + +Alfalfa is an ever-growing crop--can be garnered five times each year. + +And as for flowers, I really cannot attempt to enumerate or describe in +detail. There are hundreds of varieties of roses. They were found +growing wild by myriads, and have been most carefully cultivated and +improved. One rose tree in the grounds of the Arlington Hotel has spread +over sixty feet of the veranda, and three lady guests have climbed into +its branches at once. As one man said: "The roses here would climb to +the moon if a trellis could be provided." + +A friend sent me twenty-five large bunches of the choicest roses from +her garden one morning in April, each bunch a different variety. Their +roses are shipped in large quantities to San Francisco, and Chicago has +her churches decorated at Easter from the rose gardens of Santa Barbara. + +Honey naturally is thought of. Apiculture here is a great business. The +bee has to be busy all day long and all through the year--no rest. One +ingenious fellow proposed crossing the working bee with the firefly, so +it could work all night long by its own lantern. But this is better. I +hear wondrous stories of bees getting into cracks of church towers or +upper stories, and bulging out the buildings with their accumulated +stores--positively cartloads of sweetness. Think of honey made from +orange flowers selling at five cents a pound! + +A clergyman writing of Santa Barbara County says that twenty-five years +ago all their vegetables were imported. Now beans yield a ton to the +acre, potatoes two hundred and fifty bushels per acre, and he has seen +potatoes that weighed six, seven, and eight and a half pounds--as much +as an ordinary baby; beets, seventy-five tons to the acre; carrots, +thirty. Mr. Webster once declared in Congress that this State could +never raise a bushel of grain. Corn yields fifty bushels to the acre; +barley, sixty; wheat, thirty. Others give much higher records: corn, one +hundred and thirty bushels; barley, eighty; potatoes, four hundred; +forty tons of squashes, four tons of hay, sixty tons of beets. + +I have spoken of stock-raising. Dairying is a profitable industry. +Poultry farming a little uncertain. If interested in mining there is +much to explore. Just in this county are found gold, silver, copper, +asphaltum, bituminous rock, gypsum, quicksilver, natural gas, and +petroleum. + +And what sort of a climate does one find? Santa Barbara is an +all-year-round resort. It has all that one could ask. + + "The mountains look on Marathon, + And Marathon looks on the sea." + +It is a perpetual summer--sometimes a cold and rainy June, sometimes a +little too warm, sometimes a three days' sand-storm, disagreeable and +trying; but it is always June, as we in New England know June. At least +it is Juney from 9 A.M. until 4 P.M. Just before sunset the temperature +falls. Then when the sun goes rapidly in or down it is like being out at +sea. And to a sensitive patient, with nerves all on outside, chilled by +the least coolness, it is unpleasantly piercing. + +When any one describes Santa Barbara to you as a town + + "Where winds are hushed nor dare to breathe aloud, + Where skies seem never to have borne a cloud," + +remember that this applies truthfully to "a Santa Barbara day," but +_not_ to all days. Surf bathers go in every month of the year. But this +does not alter the fact that a person would be disappointed and consider +himself deceived if he accepted the general idea of absolute heaven on +earth. The inhabitants do not wish such exaggerations and +misrepresentations to go forth. California can bear to have the whole +truth told, and still be far ahead. Who wants eternal sunshine, eternal +monotony? + +The temperature during the day varies little. I see that one resident +compares it with May in other parts of the country. I think he has never +tried to find a picnic day in early May in New England. He says: "Our +coldest month is warmer than April at Philadelphia, and our warmest one +much cooler than June at same place." They did have one simoon in 1859, +when the mercury rose to 133°, and stayed there for eight hours. Animals +and birds died, trees were blasted and burned, and gardens ruined. But +that was most "unusual." + +Flannels are worn the year round. Average of rain, seventeen inches. +There are sixty-one mineral and medicinal springs in California that +are already famous. Here we can take hot sulphur baths, and drink the +nauseous water that is said to cure almost all diseases. + +Farming is comparatively easy. But grapevines are smitten by a +mysterious disease called "cellular degeneration," and phylloxera; a +black scale that injures orange and olive, and a white scale that is +worse. Apples are not free from worms; the gopher is sure to go for +every root it can find. There was a serpent even in the original Eden. +The historian remarks: "The cloddish, shiftless farmer is perhaps safer +in Massachusetts." I think of experiences at "Gooseville," and decide +not to buy, nor even rent a ranch, nor accept one if offered. "Fly to +ills I know not of?" No, thank you! + +I'm tired now of agriculture and climate, and will turn to less +practical themes. You sympathize. We will stop and begin a new chapter, +with a hope of being more interesting. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +IN GALA DRESS. + + + "The sun is warm, the sky is clear, + The waves are dancing, fast and bright; + Both isles and snowy mountains wear + The purple noon's transparent light." + +To see Santa Barbara at its best you must go there for the Floral +Carnival. Then at high noon, on a mid-April day, all State Street is +brilliantly decorated with leaves of the date-palm, pampa plumes, moss +combined with tropical foliage, calla-lilies, wildflowers, bamboo, +immortelles, branches of pepper trees, evergreens, lemon boughs laden +with yellow fruit, and variegated shrubs. Draperies of white and gold, +with green or red in contrast, or blue and white, in harmony with red +flowers, or floral arches draped with fish-nets bestrewn with pink +roses; or yellow alone in draperies combined with the poppy, or gray +moss and roses. No one fails to respond to the color summons for the +day of days. The meat-markets are tastefully concealed with a leafy +screen and callas. The undertaker makes his place as cheerful as +possible with evergreens, roses, and red geraniums. The drugstore is +gaily trimmed, and above the door see the great golden mortar made of +marigolds. The Mexican and Californian colors are often flung out, and +flags are flying from many windows. The long broad street is a blaze of +glory; the immense audience, seated on tiers of benches, wait patiently, +then impatiently, for the expected procession; and as many more people +are standing in line, equally eager. Many have baskets or armfuls of +flowers, with which to pelt the passing acquaintance. There are moments +of such intense interest that everything is indelibly and eternally +photographed. I see, as I write, the absolutely cloudless sky of perfect +blue, the sea a darker shade, equally perfect, the white paved street, +the kaleidoscope of color, the fluttering pennants, the faces of the +crowd all turned in one direction, and hark! the band is really coming, +the beginning of the pageant is just seen, and now sea, sky, flags, +crowds are no more regarded, for the long-talked-of parade is here. See +advancing the Grand Commander and his showy aids, gay Spanish cavaliers, +the horses stepping proudly, realizing the importance of the occasion, +the saddles and bridles wound with ribbons or covered with flowers. And +next the Goddess of Flowers, in canopy-covered shell, a pretty little +Mayflower of a maiden, with a band of maids of honor, each in a dainty +shell. The shouts and applause add to the excitement, and flowers are +hurled in merry war at the cavaliers, and the goddess and her +attendants. Next comes the George Washington coach, modelled after the +historic vehicle, occupied by stately dames and courtly gentlemen in +colonial array; even the footmen are perfection in the regulation livery +of that period. Solemn and imposing this may be, but they get a +merciless shower of roses, and one of the prizes. And do look at the +haymakers! Oh, that is charming! Country girls and boys on a load of +new-mown hay, with broad-brimmed hats, and dresses trimmed with +wild-flowers. And now the advance-guard is coming down again; they have +just turned at the head of the line, and it is already a little +confusing. But the judges! How can they keep cool, or even think, with +such a clamor of voices, and guests chattering thoughtlessly to them. +Here comes a big basket on wheels, handle and all covered with moss and +roses. Four girls in pink silk trimmed with moss stand within, bearing +shields of pink roses to protect their laughing faces from excess of +attention. What a lovely picture! Another basket just behind covered +entirely with marguerites; the wheels also are each a marguerite, the +white horses with harness covered with yellow ribbon--so dainty, so +cool. Is it better than the other? And here is a Roman chariot, a +Spanish market-wagon, a phaeton covered with yellow mustard, a hermit in +monastic garb; then Robin Hood and his merry men, and Maid Marian in +yellow-green habit, Will Scarlet and Friar Tuck in green doublets, +yellow facings, bright green felt hats, bows and quivers flower-trimmed, +even the tiny arrows winged with blossoms. Now there are equipages +three deep to survey instead of one, as they pass and repass in +bewildering splendor. And do look! Here come the comicalities! "The Old +Woman who lived in a Shoe"--a big floral slipper, with a dozen children +in pink and gray-green, and the old woman on great poke-bonnet; a +Japanese jinrikisha; an egg of white flowers, and a little boy hid away +so as to peep and put out a downy head as a yellow chicken; a bicycle +brigade; equestriennes; an interesting procession of native +Californians, with the accoutrements of the Castilian, on horseback. One +carriage is banked with marigolds, and the black horses are harnessed in +yellow of the exact shade. It is fitly occupied by black-eyed Spanish +beauties, with raven hair done up high with gold combs, and black lace +costumes with marigolds for trimming, and takes a well-deserved prize. + +Roses, roses, roses, roses! How they fly and fall as the fleeting +display is passing! Thirty thousand on one carriage. Roses cover the +street. And yet the gardens don't seem stripped. Where millions are +blooming thousands are not missed. And not roses alone, but every flower +of field and garden and conservatory is honored and displayed. Now the +contestants are driving up to the grand stand to secure silken banners. +Every one looks a little bit weary in procession and audience. Is it +over? I murmur regretfully: + + "All that's bright must fade, + The brightest still the fleetest; + All that's sweet was made + But to be lost when sweetest." + +Yes, it is over! Waving banners, rainbow colors, showers of blossoms, +rosy faces, mimic battle, fairy scenes, the ideal realized! + +This is better than the New Orleans Mardi Gras, so often marred by rain +and mud, with mythological ambiguities that few can understand, and +difficult to interpret in passing tableaux; better than similar display +at Nice and Mentone. _This_ I do call "unique" and the only. Let Santa +Barbara have this yearly festa for her own. She has fairly won the +preëminence. + +We at the comparatively frozen and prosaic north can indulge in gay +coaching parades at Franconia, Newport, or Lenox, where costumes of +gorgeous hues assist the natural beauty of the flowers. But it is only a +coaching parade, at the wind-up of a gay season. We cannot catch the +evanescent glamour, the optical enchantment, the fantastic fun, the +exquisite art of making long preparation and hard work, careful schemes +for effect, appear like airy nonsense for the amusement of an idle hour. +We show the machinery. A true carnival can only be a success in a +perpetual "summer-land," "within a lovely landscape on a bright and +laughing seacoast." Taine said, "Give me the race, the surroundings, and +the epoch, and I show you the man." Give me fair women, roses, sunshine, +leisure, and high-bred, prancing steeds, and I show you this Santa +Barbara Carnival. + +But this is only a portion of the entertainment. There is a display of +flowers at the Pavilion, where everything can be found that blooms in +California, all most artistically arrayed; and more fascinating in the +evening, when hundreds of tiny electric lights twinkle everywhere from +out the grayish-green moss, and the hall is filled with admiring guests. +There is always a play given one evening by amateur talent, a +tournament, and a grand closing ball. + +The tournament is exciting, where skilful riders try tilting at rings, +trying to take as many rings as possible on lance while galloping by the +wires on which these rings are lightly suspended---a difficult +accomplishment. Their costumes are elaborate and gay, but never _outrè_ +or bizarre, and no two alike. Each has his own color, and, like the +knights of old, has a fayre ladye among the spectators who is especially +interested and anxious for his success. + +Next comes the Spanish game of "colgar," picking up ten-dollar gold +pieces from the saddle, the horse at full speed. And the gymkhana race +ends the games. Those who enter, saddle at the word "go," open an +umbrella, and, taking out a cigar, light and smoke it--then see who +first rides to the goal. + +Last came the real _vaqueros_, and they ride untamed, unbroken horses, +after a long and rather painful struggle to mount. They lasso mustangs +and do wonderful things. But it was too much. I was glad to go and rest. + +The Flower Dance at the ball, where human flowers formed intricate +figures and dances for our edification and delight, was so attractive +that my words are of no avail. Picture twenty-eight young ladies, each +dressed to represent a flower--hollyhock, pansy, moss, rose, +morning-glory, eucalyptus blossom, pink clover, yellow marguerite, +Cherokee rose, pink carnation, forget-me-not, buttercup, pink-and-white +fuchsia, lily of the valley, wine-colored peony, white iris, daffodil, +and so on. They advance with slowly swaying motion, with wreaths +uplifted until they reach the stage, where sit the guests of honor. +There they bow low, then lay the garlands at their feet, and retire, +forming ingeniously pretty groups and figures, while bees and +butterflies flit in and out. See the bees pursuing the little pink +rosebuds until at last they join hands and dance gaily away, only to be +enthusiastically recalled. + +Do you ladies want to understand a little in detail about the dresses? +Of course you do. Well, here is the yellow marguerite: + +Slender petals of yellow satin falling over a skirt of white silk crêpe, +a green satin calyx girdle about her waist, and golden petals drooped +again from the neck of her low bodice and over her shoulders. + +A handsome brunette represented a wine-colored peony in a rich costume +of wine-colored velvet and satin. The petals fell to make the skirt, and +rose again from a bell sheathing the neck of her low corsage, and the +cap on her dark hair was a copy of the flower. + +There, you see how it is done. But it requires genius to succeed in such +an undertaking. Look at Walter Crane's pictures of human flowers for +more suggestions. + +Most effective of all was the cachuca, danced by a girl of pure +Castilian blood, who was dressed to symbolize the scarlet passionflower. +The room was darkened save where she stood, and her steps and poses were +full of Spanish fire and feeling, combined with poetic grace. + +Yes, it is over, but the pictures remain as freshly colored as if I saw +it all but yesterday. + +During the Carnival sentiment reigns supreme--that is, if you have +engaged rooms far in advance, and the matter of three daily meals is +settled--and portly business men become gallant, chivalrous, and even +poetic. In testimony I offer two verses sent to a lady visitor with a +bunch of roses: + + "We had not thought it was for aught + He lingered round us, scanning, + But to admire our spring attire, + The south wind softly fanning. + + "But when we knew it was for you + Our charms he sought to capture, + All round the bower each budding flower + Blushed pink with rosy rapture. + + "Lovingly, + + THE ROSES." + +George Eliot once said: "You love the roses--so do I! I wish the sky +would rain down roses as they rain from off the shaken bush. Why will it +not? Then all the valleys would be pink and white, and soft to tread on. +They would fall as light as feathers, smelling sweet; and it would be +like sleeping and yet waking all at once." + +She never knew Santa Barbara. + +I said the horses feel proud, and their owners tell me how they turn +their heads to see their adornment. And well they may, for a true +Barbareno loves his horse as does the Arab, and delights in his +decoration. Easily first in this matter is Mr. W. D. Thompson, who came +to Santa Barbara from Maine more than forty years ago, a nephew of the +captain with whom Dana sailed. Mr. Thompson is a progressive man, who +appreciates the many improvements achieved and contemplated, but still +loves to tell of the good old times when he was roughing it as a +pioneer. He has done a most important and valuable work in having a +typical Mexican saddle and bridle of the most approved and correct +pattern made out of the finest leather and several thousand silver +dollars. As his favorite mare stood before me with this magnificent +saddle on, and her forelegs tied with a little strap so that she could +step daintily but not run, I never saw such a pretty sight of the kind. +This saddle and bridle, worth over $3000, are now on exhibition in +Chicago. No more significant or beautiful exhibition of the early +argonautic period could be sent from Southern California, and it will +surely attract constant and admiring attention. Here is a description +from the San Francisco _Argonaut_: + +"This saddle and bridle, manufactured of bullion from Mexican dollars, +are exquisite works of art. The saddle is of typical Mexican pattern, +with a high pommel, well-hollowed seat, and the most elaborate of +trappings. The leather is stamped with elegant designs, and the whole +thing is a complete, costly, and elaborate equipment, of good taste and +artistic design. The saddle is studded over with silver ornaments. The +leather facings are set thick with buttons and rosettes; the pommel is +encased in silver; the corners of the aprons are tipped with silver; the +stirrups are faced and edged with silver half an inch thick, elaborately +chased and carved. The saddle-tree is hung with silver rings, fore and +aft, to answer all the requirements of the vaquero in lacing up his +riata. The girth, which passes under the horse's belly and cinches the +saddle in place, is woven of hair from horses' manes by a native +artisan, and is fully eight inches broad, with a tassel hanging at its +middle. The saddle, the bridle, and all its appointments are marvels of +beauty. The reins, martingale, and whip are composed of solid silver in +woven strands. The headstall is covered with fluted silver, with large +engraved silver rosettes at the sides, with decorations of flowers and +heads of wheat, with an elaborate nose-piece with silver engraving. The +side-pieces are of silver, massive and ornate, with a silver chain under +the horse's jaw. The bridle, reins, and accessories weigh about twelve +pounds, and are worth not less than two hundred and fifty dollars in +value of silver coin used in its manufacture." + +Everybody up and down the coast knows Dixie Thompson. His talk is full +of delightful anecdotes of the early settlers, and he has a droll, dry +humor of his own that is refreshing. Mr. Nordhoff, who is an old +friend, once wrote to the Harper "Drawer" about his shrewd way of +restraining the over-keen traders and laboring men who tried to impose +upon him. He heads the pleasant bit of gossip, "Captain Thompson's +Club," and says: + +"Captain Dixie is, to all appearance, the man of most leisure in all +leisurely Santa Barbara. He and his horses and carriages are always at +the service of a friend. But while he seems to be the idlest of men, he +is, in fact, an extremely capable business man who has many irons in the +fire--tills much good land, has horses and cattle and pigs of the best +breeds on many hills and in several rich valleys, and keeps all his +affairs running in good order. Still, he is an easy-going, not a +bustling, man of business. And it is just here that his social +contrivance comes in: he has judged it expedient to form a club. + +"'You see,' said he, the other day, to an old friend, 'the boys don't +always see me around, and sometimes they try to take a little advantage. +I find a fellow who don't haul half a load for me while I am paying for +a full load; another one who gives me short measure; or another who does +not do what I have told him. I hate to scold; and as they all deny when +I accuse them, and I can't be telling men that they are lying to me, I +thought I'd just establish a Liars' Club and bring them all in. It is +now in good, healthy operation. We don't call it the Liars' Club, of +course; we speak of the Club. But when I catch a man trying to 'do' me, +I just tell him that I'll have to make him a member of the Club.--Oh, +how do you do, Mr. President?' said Captain Dixie to a well-known +character just then passing by.--'He's the president of the Club, you +know,' he added. 'Here's Pancho now; I told him the other day I would +have to make him a member of the Club if he didn't look out. I guess +he'll get in yet. It's a very flourishing club, and more useful, I +guess, than some others.' + +"Don't laugh, my dear Drawer. I believe Captain Thompson has struck an +admirable idea, and one which might well have wide application. Don't +you suppose the material for such a club exists, for instance--not here +in New Haven, of course, but over in New York, say, or perhaps in +Washington? Think it over. The Drawer has always taken the lead in great +moral and social improvements. I leave it to you." + +Here, as in all Southern California, you will never know anything of the +real town unless you have a friend who can take you to unfrequented +cross-country drives up winding paths to mesas, or upland pasture +guarded by lock and key from the average tourist, and get views +indescribably fine. + +I am ashamed of my fellow-travellers who pick oranges by the score, and +even break off boughs from the choicest and most conspicuous trees, and +rush uninvited pell-mell into private grounds and quiet homes of +well-bred people to see and exclaim and criticise. Add to this nuisance +the fact that hundreds of invalids come yearly to the most desirable +localities, turning them into camping-grounds for bacilli. I wonder at +the singular forbearance and courtesy of the residents. + +Occasionally some one invited to speechify or air his opinion of things +in general here bluntly expresses his surprise at finding everywhere so +much culture, wealth, and refinement. This is a queer reflection on the +fact that this part of the State is filled with specimens of our finest +families from the East. I will frankly admit that I must be at my very +best to keep up with those I have been privileged to meet here. + +You must not forget when in Santa Barbara to visit the fine public +library, the best adapted for the convenience of actual workers of any I +have entered. You must not fail to drive to Montecito ("little forest"), +to Carpenteria and Goleta. + +I also advise you to spend a morning in Mr. Ford's studio, and an +afternoon with Mr. Starke and his treasures in wood-carving and +inlaying, brought yearly from the Yosemite, wrought out with his own +hands. He uses nearly fifty varieties of trees in his woodwork, and few +see his stock and go away without investing in a redwood cane, a +paper-knife, or an inlaid table. His orders come from all parts of the +world, and are often very large, mounting up to hundreds of dollars. He +is a simple-hearted student of nature, and a thorough workman. I enjoyed +a brief visit to Chinatown and Spanishtown close by, where I saw a woman +scrubbing clothes on a long flat board, with a piece of soap in each +hand, standing in a hut made of poles covered with brush, and noticed an +old oven outdoors and the meat hung up in strips to dry. I enjoyed also +a call on the old fellow who "catcha de fisha." + +And now, looking back as we are whirled away, I find I am repeating +those lines from Shelley which so exactly reproduce the picture: + + "The earth and ocean seem + To sleep in one another's arms and dream + Of waves, flowers, clouds, woods, rocks, and all that we + Read in their smiles, and call reality." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +AU REVOIR. + +Just as a woman is leaving her friends she ever has the most to chatter +about. How can I say _au revoir_ briefly when there is so much more to +tell? I so earnestly want to give California _en verdad_, or in truth. +There has been too much bragging from the settlers, as in 1887 the Los +Angeles _Herald_ said that "New York would soon be excelled by that +city." There is a general desire to surpass all the rest of the world in +as many ways as possible, and a general belief that it can easily be +done. And visitors have omitted all that was unpleasant, and exaggerated +the good points, so that one Californian speaks "of the dancing +dervishes of travel, singing insanely from the moment they come to us." + +There is so much that is novel in this wonderland that it is hard to +keep cool and look at all sides. In 1870 all vegetables and grain were +imported. Mr. Webster declared long ago in Congress that California was +absolutely worthless except for mining and grazing. The rancheros +thought the land only fit for sheep to roam over. Now great train-loads +of vegetables and grain leave daily for the East; all the earliest fruit +of New York, Boston, and Chicago comes from this State, and ships are +carrying all these products to all parts of the world. From north to +south the State measures over 800 miles--as far as from New York to +Florida--with an area of 189,000 square miles--as much as New England +and the Middle States combined, throwing in Maryland. The northern and +southern portions are as unlike as Massachusetts and Florida, and the +State must soon be divided. How little is known of Northern California! +Next year I hope to describe that, with its lofty mountains, wonderful +scenery, lakes of rare beauty, immense interests in grain, fruits, and +mining. This little bit along the coast is but a minute portion of the +whole. I have only followed in the footsteps of the Fathers, and would +like to take you to Monterey, where Junipero Serra founded his last +mission. Mrs. Stanford has placed a statue of the dear old saint on the +shore to honor his life-work. Realizing the size of the State and its +capabilities, big stories seem inevitable. As Talleyrand said of Spain, +"It is a country in which two and two make five." + +Some statements need to be modified. It is declared over and over that +here there are no thunderstorms. In the _Examiner_ of May 19th I read: +"Santa Rosa was visited by a very severe electrical storm about eleven +o'clock last night. The sky was brilliantly illuminated by lightning, +and peal after peal of heavy thunder was heard. This was followed by a +rain which continued until near morning." A church steeple was struck by +lightning and destroyed. This is unusual, but for "never" read "hardly +ever." No mad dogs, yet a little terrier I bought in San Francisco to +give to a friend had to be shot its first summer on account of rabies. +Let us balance matters: + +No malaria, but rheumatism. +No cyclones, " wind and sand storms. +No thunderstorms, " earthquakes. +No mad dogs, " rattlesnakes and centipedes, tarantulas and + scorpions. +No sunstrokes, " chilling fogs. + +All goes when the sun goes. The climate is "outdoors." A sunny room is +essential. The difference between noonday and midnight, temperature +between sun and shade, is something to be learned and guarded against. + +Each place is recommended by doctors who have regained their own health +as _the_ place for invalids. What Dr. Edwards says of San Diego is +repeated everywhere else by experts: + +"San Diego presents the most even climate, the largest proportion of +fair, clear days, a sandy and absorbent soil, and the minimum amount of +atmospheric moisture--all the factors requisite in a perfect climate." + +In each "_peripheral resistances are reduced to a minimum_." Dr. +Radebaugh, of Pasadena, who, I believe, has not the normal amount of +lung but has been restored to health by the air of Pasadena, where he +has a large practice, assures me that, in his candid opinion, "Pasadena +is the greatest all-the-year-round health-resort in the world." Dr. +Isham, of same place, goes into details, and is almost the only +physician I have consulted who acknowledges drawbacks in the Pasadena +climate for those who desire a cure for throat or lungs. "This climate, +like all else here, is paradoxical and contradictory," and he mentions +that the winds blowing from the Pacific are not usually the +rain-bearers, but those blowing from a point directly opposite, and that +the arid desert. Among objectionable features he mentions the "marked +changes of temperature daily, frequent fogs, excess of humidity in +winter owing to protracted rains (thirty inches in five months, from +November, 1892, to March of this year); hot, dry winds that prevail in +summer, with wind and sand storms, which have a debilitating effect on +nervous systems, and are irritating to the mucous membrane." + +How refreshing to find one person who does not consider his own refuge +from disease an ideal health-resort! He also owns that doctors do not +know yet how to treat such troubles as bronchitis, as is proven by their +experimenting upon patients in Minnesota, Colorado, Arizona, Florida, +and Pasadena. And he closes his letter in this way: + +"When local jealousies have subsided, and contending climates have had +their day, the thing of cardinal importance for an invalid such as you +have mentioned to do when about to change his or her home will be, not +to attach too much importance to this or that particular climatic +condition as determined by the barometer, thermometer, hygrometer, +anemometer, and other meteorological instruments, nor to lay too much +stress on a difference of a few hundred or thousand feet of elevation +above the sea; but choose a home where the environments will afford the +invalid or valetudinarian the greatest opportunity of living +out-of-doors, and of spending the hours of sunshine in riding, driving, +walking, and in other ways, whereby the entrance of pure air into the +lungs is facilitated. In Pasadena the days in winter are warm enough to +make outdoor life attractive and healthful, while the number of sunny +days throughout the year is above the average of that prevailing in many +other deservedly popular health-resorts." + +I will also quote a letter received from Dr. W. B. Berry, formerly of +Montclair, N. J., who, coming to Southern California an almost hopeless +invalid, is now fairly well, and will probably entirely regain his +health. He also is careful and conservative in statement, and therefore +commands serious attention: + + "Riverside, Cal., May 2, 1893. + + "Dear Miss Sanborn: To recommend any place to an invalid is to an + experienced climate-hunter no doubt, at times, a duty,--certainly + it is a duty from which he shrinks. + + "One does not see so many advanced cases of pulmonary disease here + as at either Asheville or Colorado Springs. The thousands of miles + of alkali, sage-brush, and desolation might explain that, but it + does seem to me that a much larger proportion of consumptives are + 'doing well' in this country than in those. + + "_Pure dry air_, _pure water_, and _clean dry soil_ are the + climatic elements essential for the pulmonary invalid, and for most + others. These conditions can be found at Riverside and its vicinity + during a large proportion of the year. + + "Here, too, are cool walks, with sunshine or shade, as may be + desired, and things on every side to interest. For, unfortunately, + the man with a sore chest has a brain and a spinal cord to be + stimulated and fed, not to speak of those little heartstrings + undiscovered by the anatomist, and which yet tug and pull mightily + in a far country. + + "In short, it would seem that any consumptive in an early stage of + his disease who does not thrive at a moderate altitude would do + well to come here and to stay--that is, if he will remember that + all the climate is out-of-doors." + +My own troublesome throat is almost as good as new, and I am proud to +name my physician, _Outdoors, M.D._ Come and consult the same unfailing +restorer. + +I have given, according to my humble ability, _la verdad cierta_--the +absolute truth--about the small fraction of the State known as Southern +California. + +I came with gargle and note-book, but long ago gave up the former; and +as for these jottings, I offer them to those who want to see this +much-talked-of Earthly Paradise as in a verbal mirror. And to all a +cordial _au revoir_! + + "Adieu to thee again! + A vain adieu! + There can be no farewell to scene like thine: + The mind is colored by thy every hue." + + + + +KATE SANBORN'S BOOKS. + +Adopting an Abandoned Farm. +16mo. Boards, 50 cents. + +"'Adopting an Abandoned Farm' has as much laugh to the square inch as +any book we have read this many a day."--_Boston Herald_. + +"If any one wants an hour's entertainment for a warm sunny day on the +piazza, or cold wet day by a log fire, this is the book that will +furnish it."--_New York Observer_. + + +A Truthful Woman in Southern California. +12mo. Cloth, 75 cents. + +"Miss Sanborn is certainly a very bright writer, and when a book bears +her name it is safe to buy it and put it aside for delectation when a +leisure hour comes along. This bit of a volume is enticing in every +page, and the weather seemed not to be so intolerably hot while we were +reading it."--_New York Herald_. + +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. + + + + +"EVERY AMERICAN SHOULD READ IT."--_The News, Providence_. + +The Life and Times of Thomas Jefferson. + +By Thomas E. Watson, Author of "The Story of France," "Napoleon," etc. +Illustrated with many Portraits and Views. 8vo. Attractively bound, +$2.50 net; postage, 17 cents additional. + +Mr. Watson long since acquired a national reputation in connection with +his political activities in Georgia. He startled the public soon +afterward by the publication of a history of France, which at once +attracted attention quite as marked, though different in kind. His book +became interesting not alone as the production of a Southern man +interested in politics, but as an entirely original conception of a +great theme. There was no question that a life of Jefferson from the +hands of such a writer would command very general attention, and the +publishers had no sooner announced the work as in preparation than +negotiations were begun with the author by two of the best-known +newspapers in America for its publication in serial form. During the +past summer the appearance of the story in this way has created +widespread comment which has now been drawn to the book just published. + +_Opinions by some of the Leading Papers._ + +"A vastly entertaining polemic. It directs attention to many undoubtedly +neglected facts which writers of the North have ignored or +minimized."--_The New York Times Saturday Review of Books_. + +"A noble work. It may well stand on the shelf beside Morley's +'Gladstone' and other epochal biographical works that have come into +prominence. It is deeply interesting and thoroughly fair and +just."--_The Globe-Democrat, St. Louis_. + +"The book shows great research and is as complete as it could possibly +be, and every American should read it."--_The News, Providence_. + +"A unique historical work."--_The Commercial Advertiser, New York_. + +"Valuable as an historical document and as a witness to certain great +facts in the past life of the South which have seldom been acknowledged +by historians."--_The Post, Louisville_. + +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. + + + + +By JOHN BACH McMASTER, Ph.D. + +History of the People of the United States, + +_From the Revolution to the Civil War_. By John Bach McMaster. To be +completed in six volumes. Vols. I, II, III, IV, and V now ready. 8vo. +Cloth, gilt top, $2.50 each. + +"A history _sui generis_ which has made and will keep its own place in +our literature."--_New York Evening Post_. + +"Those who can read between the lines may discover in these pages +constant evidences of care and skill and faithful labor, of which the +old-time superficial essayists, compiling library notes on dates and +striking events, had no conception."--_Philadelphia Telegraph_. + +"Professor McMaster has told us what no other historians have told.... +The skill, the animation, the brightness, the force, and the charm with +which he arrays the facts before us are such that we can hardly conceive +of more interesting reading for an American citizen who cares to know +the nature of those causes which have made not only him but his +environment and the opportunities life has given him what they +are."--_New York Times_. + + +With the Fathers. + +_Studies in the History of the United States_. 8vo. Cloth, $1.50. + +"Professor McMaster's essays possess in their diversity a breadth which +covers most of the topics which are current as well as historical, and +each is so scholarly in treatment and profound in judgment that the +importance of their place in the library of political history can not be +gainsaid."--_Washington Times_. + +"The book is of great practical value, as many of the essays throw a +broad light over living questions of the day. Professor McMaster has a +clear, simple style that is delightful. His facts are gathered with +great care, and admirably interwoven to impress the subject under +discussion upon the mind of the reader."--_Chicago Inter-Ocean_. + + + + + +STANDARD HISTORICAL WORKS. + + +History of the People of the United States, + +_From the Revolution to the Civil War_. By John Bach McMaster. To be +completed in six volumes. Vols. I, II, III, IV, and V now ready. 8vo. +Cloth, gilt top, $2.50 each. + + +The Beginners of a Nation. + +By Edward Eggleston. A History of the Source and Rise of the Earliest +English Settlements in America, with Special Reference to the Life and +Character of the People. The first volume in a History of Life in the +United States. Small 8vo. Gilt top, uncut, with Maps. Cloth, $1.50. + + +The Transit of Civilization, + +From England to America in the Seventeenth Century. By Edward Eggleston. +Uniform with "The Beginners of a Nation." Small 8vo. Gilt top, uncut. +Cloth, $1.50. + + +The Household History of the United States and its People. + +By Edward Eggleston. For Young Americans. Richly illustrated with 350 +Drawings, 75 Maps, etc. Square 8vo. Cloth, $2.50. + + +Bancroft's History of the United States, + +From the Discovery of the Continent to the Establishment of the +Constitution in 1789. (Also _Edition de Luxe_, on large paper, limited +to one hundred sets, numbered.) Complete in six volumes, with a Portrait +of the Author. 8vo. Cloth, uncut, gilt top, $15.00; half calf or half +morocco, $27.00; tree calf, $50.00. + +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. + + + + +HISTORIC LIVES SERIES. + +A series of popular biographies dealing with famous men of all times and +countries, written in brief form and representing the latest knowledge +on the subjects, each illustrated with appropriate full-page pictures, +the authors being chosen for their special knowledge of the subjects. + +Each 12mo, Illustrated, Cloth, $1.00 net. + +Postage, 10 cents additional. + +_NOW READY_. + +Father Marquette, the Explorer of the Mississippi. +By Reuben Gold Thwaites, Editor of "The Jesuit Relations," etc. + +Daniel Boone. +By Reuben Gold Thwaites, Editor of "The Jesuit Relations," "Father +Marquette," etc. + +Horace Greeley. +By William A. Linn, Author of "The Story of the Mormons." + +Sir William Johnson. +By Augustus C. Buell, Author of "Paul Jones, Founder of the American +Navy." + +Anthony Wayne. +By John R. Spears. + +Champlain: The Founder of New France. +By Edwin Asa Dix, M.A., LL.D., Formerly Fellow in History in Princeton +University; Author of "Deacon Bradbury," "A Midsummer Drive through the +Pyrenees," etc. + +James Oglethorpe: The Founder of Georgia. +By Harriet C. Cooper. + +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. + + + + +A NEW VOLUME IN APPLETONS' HISTORIC LIVES SERIES. + +Horace Greeley. + +By William A. Linn, Author of "The Story of the Mormons"; formerly +Managing Editor of the _New York Evening Post_. Illustrated. 12 mo. +Cloth, $1.00 net; postage, 10 cents additional. + +It is remarkable that so little has been written about Greeley since he +died; in fact, since Parton's book appeared, just before the civil war, +no one has undertaken a comprehensive life of Greeley. Greeley's own +autobiography, which he called "Recollections of a Busy Life," has been +the only later work of note to which readers could go, and that book has +not been in general circulation for a great many years. Mr. Linn's +volume, therefore, should have a large public waiting to receive it. The +character of Horace Greeley is studied by Mr. Linn in his editorial +work. He traces his opinions as set forth in his editorial writings. In +this way he shows how he "grew up" to his earnest advocacy of a +protective tariff; how he became the most powerful opponent of the +extension of the slave power, after looking on the subject almost with +indifference in his earlier years; his curious inconsistencies during +the civil war, when he was a source of constant interference with the +Administration at Washington; and the circumstances that led to his +selection as the Liberal candidate for President in 1872. + +"Every lover of America's great men should possess this life of +Greeley."--_Raleigh Observer_. + +"The best biography of Greeley yet written."--_The Literary World_. + +"Mr. Linn has not attempted an elaborate life of Greeley, but only an +extended, a just and thoroughly appreciative essay. Eminent success has +crowned the effort. The general public, as well as the more fastidious +student, will find genuine pleasure and real benefit in perusing this +little volume."--_Prof. William F. Dodd, New York Times Review_. + +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. + + + + +REMINISCENCES OF A SCIENTIST. + +The Autobiography of Joseph Le Conte. + +With portrait. 12mo. Cloth, $1.25 net. + +Professor Le Conte was widely known as a man of science, and notably as +a geologist. His later years were spent at the University of California. +But his early life was passed in the South; there he was born and spent +his youth; there he was living when the civil war brought ruin to his +home and his inherited estate. His reminiscences deal with phases of +life in the South that have unfailing interest to all students of +American history. His account of the war as he saw it has permanent +value. He was in Georgia when Sherman marched across it. Professor Le +Conte knew Agassiz, and writes charmingly of his associations with him. + +"Attractive because of its unaffected simplicity and +directness."--_Chicago Chronicle_. + +"Attractive by virtue of its frank simplicity."--_New York Evening +Post_. + +"Well worth reading even if the reader be not particularly interested in +geology."--_New York American_. + +"This story of a beautiful, untiring life is worthy of consideration by +every lover of truth."--_St. Paul Despatch_. + +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, + +NEW YORK. BOSTON. CHICAGO. LONDON. + + + + +THE AUTHENTIC LIFE OF LINCOLN. + +Abraham Lincoln: The True Story of a Great Life. + +By William H. Herndon and Jesse W. Weik. With numerous Illustrations. +New and revised edition, with an Introduction by Horace White. In two +volumes, 12mo. Cloth, $3.00. + +"It will always remain the authentic life of Abraham Lincoln."--_Chicago +Herald_. + +"A remarkable piece of literary achievement--remarkable alike for its +fidelity to facts, its fulness of details, its constructive skill, and +its literary charm."--_New York Times_. + +"The three portraits of Lincoln are the best that exist; and not the +least characteristic of these, the Lincoln of the Douglas debates, has +never before been engraved.... Herndon's narrative gives, as nothing +else is likely to give, the material from which we may form a true +picture of the man from infancy to maturity."--_The Nation_. + +"Truly, they who wish to know Lincoln as he really was must read the +biography by his friend and law-partner, W. H. Herndon. This book was +imperatively needed to brush aside the rank growth of myth and legend +which was threatening to hide the real lineaments of Lincoln from the +eyes of posterity.... There is no doubt about the faithfulness of Mr. +Herndon's delineation. The marks of unflinching veracity are patent in +every line."--_New York Sun_. + + +Lincoln in Story. + +_The Life of the Martyr President told in Authenticated Anecdotes_. +Edited by Silas G. Pratt. Illustrated, 12mo, Cloth, 75 cents net; +postage, 9 cents additional. + +"A valuable and exceedingly interesting addition to Lincoln +literature."--_Brooklyn Standard-Union_. + +"An excellent compilation on a subject of which the American people +never grow tired."--_Boston Transcript_. + +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. + + + + +_A PICTORIAL HISTORY OF THE WAR WITH SPAIN_. + +Cannon and Camera. + +Sea and Land Battles of the Spanish-American War in Cuba, Camp Life, and +the Return of the Soldiers. Described and illustrated by J. C. Hemment. +With over one hundred full-page pictures taken by the Author, and an +Index. Large 12mo. Cloth, $2.00. + +"Accurate as well as picturesque.... Mr. Hemment has done his work well. +In point of faithful realism there has thus far been nothing better in +the whole war literature."--_Boston Journal_. + +"Clever and picturesque.... Over one hundred capital instantaneous +photographs illustrate Mr. Hemment's well-written record, and not the +least of the book's recommendations is the outspoken simplicity of its +style, and the strong impression it makes upon the reader of being the +uninfluenced evidence of an eyewitness who 'draws the thing as he sees +it' and without exaggeration or prejudice."--_Sunday School Times_. + + +Recollections of the Civil War. + +By CHARLES A. DANA. With Portrait. Large 12mo. Cloth, gilt top, uncut, +$2.00. + +"The book will rank among the trustworthy sources of knowledge of the +civil war."--_New York Evening Post_. + +"Mr. Dana's official position as Assistant Secretary of War while the +rebellion was in progress gave him exceptional opportunities of +observation which he was keen to take advantage of, while his rare gift +of terse and vivid expression enabled him to record what he saw in a +series of pen pictures that are little less than instantaneous +photographs. The feature _par excellence_ of these reminiscences is +their interesting character.... He tells you briefly but graphically +what he saw, heard, or did himself. One gains a very real and personal +knowledge of the war from these recollections."--_Chicago Times-Herald_. + +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. + + +[Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors have been +corrected. + +In Chapter II, "irridescent" has been changed to "iridescent", and +"witten" has been changed to "written".] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Truthful Woman in Southern California, by +Kate Sanborn + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A TRUTHFUL WOMAN *** + +***** This file should be named 19391-0.txt or 19391-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/3/9/19391/ + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/19391-0.zip b/19391-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..495073b --- /dev/null +++ b/19391-0.zip diff --git a/19391-8.txt b/19391-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6ff3af1 --- /dev/null +++ b/19391-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4281 @@ +Project Gutenberg's A Truthful Woman in Southern California, by Kate Sanborn + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Truthful Woman in Southern California + +Author: Kate Sanborn + +Release Date: September 27, 2006 [EBook #19391] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A TRUTHFUL WOMAN *** + + + + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + + + + + +A TRUTHFUL WOMAN IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA + +BY KATE SANBORN + +AUTHOR OF ADOPTING AN ABANDONED FARM, ETC. + +NEW YORK +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY +1906 + +COPYRIGHT, 1893, +BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. + + + + +CONTENTS. + +CHAPTER PAGE + + I.--HINTS FOR THE JOURNEY + II.--AT CORONADO BEACH + III.--SAN DIEGO + IV.--EN ROUTE TO LOS ANGELES + V.--LOS ANGELES AND ROUND ABOUT + VI.--PASADENA + VII.--CAMPING ON MOUNT WILSON +VIII.--CATCHING UP ON THE KITE-SHAPED TRACK + IX.--RIVERSIDE + X.--A LESSON ON THE TRAIN + XI.--SANTA BARBARA + XII.--HER CITY AND COUNTY +XIII.--IN GALA DRESS + XIV.--AU REVOIR + + + + +A Truthful Woman in Southern California + +CHAPTER I. + +HINTS FOR THE JOURNEY. + + + The typical Forty-niner, in alluring dreams, grips the Golden + Fleece. + + The _fin-de-siècle_ Argonaut, in Pullman train, flees the Cold and + Grip. + + _En Sol y la Sombra_--shade as well as sun. + +Yes, as California is. I resolve neither to soar into romance nor drop +into poetry (as even Chicago drummers do here), nor to idealize nor +quote too many prodigious stories, but to write such a book as I needed +to read before leaving my "Abandoned Farm," "Gooseville," Mass. For I +have discovered that many other travellers are as ignorant as myself +regarding practical information about every-day life here, and many +others at home may know even less. + +So let me say that California has not a tropical, but a semi-tropical +climate, and you need the same clothing for almost every month that is +found necessary and comfortable in New York or Chicago during the +winter. + +Bring fur capes, heavy wraps, simple woolen dresses for morning and +outdoor life; and unless rolling in wealth, pack as little as possible +of everything else, for extra baggage is a curse and will deplete a +heavy purse,--that rhymes and has reason too. I know of one man who paid +$300 for extra baggage for his party of fifteen from Boston to Los +Angeles. + +Last year I brought dresses and underwear for every season, and for a +vague unknown fifth; also my lectures, causing profanity all along the +line, and costing enough to provide drawing-room accommodations for the +entire trip. + +Why did I come? Laryngitis, bronchitis, tonsilitis, had claimed me as +their own. Grip (I will not honor it with a foreign spelling, now it is +so thoroughly acclimated and in every home) had clutched me twice--nay, +thrice; doctors shook their heads, thumped my lungs, sprayed my throat, +douched my nose, dosed me with cough anodynes and nerve tonics, and +pronounced another winter in the North a dangerous experiment. Some of +you know about this from personal experience. Not a human being could I +induce to join me. If this hits your case, do not be deterred; just come +and be made over into a joyous, healthful life. I would not urge those +to take the tedious journey who are hopelessly consumptive. Home is the +best place for such, and although I see many dragging wearily along with +one lung, or even half of that, who settle here and get married and +prolong existence for a few years, and although some marvellous cures +have been effected, still I say the same. + +And what is to be put in the one big trunk? Plenty of flannels of medium +thickness, a few pretty evening dresses, two blouses, silk and woolen or +velvet for morning wear, with simple skirts, a gossamer, rubbers, thick +boots for long tramps and excursions, parasol, umbrella, soft hat to +shade the face, and gloves for all sorts of occasions. I do not venture +to suggest anything for men, they travel so sensibly. The more +experienced one is, the less he carries with him. + +So do not load up with portfolio and portable inkstand, your favorite +stationery, the books that delighted your childhood or exerted a +formative influence upon your character in youth. Deny yourself and +leave at home the gold or silver toilet set, photograph album, family +Bibles, heavy fancy work, gilded horseshoe for luck, etc. I know of +bright people who actually carried their favorite matches from an +eastern city to Tacoma, also a big box of crackers, cheese, pickles, and +preserved fruits, only to find the best of everything in that brilliant +and up-with-the-times city. One old lady brought a calla-lily in a pot! +When she arrived and saw hedges and fields of lilies, hers went out of +the window. Another lady from Boston brought a quart bottle of the +blackest ink, only to spill it all upon a new carpet at Santa Barbara, +costing the boarding-house keeper thirty-five dollars. Everything that +one needs can be purchased all along the way, from a quinine capsule to +a complete outfit for any occasion. + +As to the various ways of coming here, I greatly prefer the Southern +Pacific in winter, and Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé in spring or summer. +Either will take you from New York to San Diego and return for $137, +allowing six months' stay. The "Phillips Excursion" will take you from +Boston to San Francisco for fifty-five dollars. But in this case the +beds are hard, and you provide your own meals. Some try the long voyage, +twenty-three days from New York to San Francisco. It is considered +monotonous and undesirable by some; others, equally good judges, prefer +it decidedly. + +I believe in taking along a loose wrapper to wear in the cars, +especially when crossing the desert. It greatly lessens fatigue to be +able to curl up cosily in a corner and go to sleep, with a silk +travelling hat or a long veil on one's head, and the stiff bonnet or +big hat with showy plumes nicely covered in its long purse-like bag, and +hanging on a hook above. The sand and alkali ruin everything, and are +apt to inflame the eyes and nose. I find a hamper with strap +indispensable on the train; it will hold as much as a small trunk, yet +it can be easily carried. + +Now imagine you have arrived, very tired, and probably with a cold in +your head, for the close heated cars and the sudden changes of climate +are trying. You may be at The Raymond, and "personally conducted." +Nothing can be better than that. But if you are alone at Los Angeles, or +San Francisco, come straight down to Coronado Beach, and begin at the +beginning--or the end, as you may think it. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +AT CORONADO BEACH. + + +I associate Coronado Beach so closely with Warner (Charles D.), the +cultured and cosmopolitan, that every wave seems to murmur his name, and +the immense hotel lives and flourishes under the magic of his rhetoric +and commendation. Just as Philadelphia is to me Wanamakerville and +Terrapin, so Coronado Beach is permeated and lastingly magnetized by +Warner's sojourn here and what he "was saying." + +But I must venture to find fault with his million-times-quoted adjective +"unique" as it is used. It has been stamped on stationery and menu +cards, and has gone the world over in his volume "Our Italy," and no one +ever visits this spot who has not made the phrase his own. To me it +deserves a stronger word, or series of words. We say a pretty girl has a +"unique" way of dressing her hair, or an author a "unique" way of +putting things. + +But as I look out of my window this glorious morning, and watch the +triple line of foaming waves breaking on the long beach, a silver sickle +in the sunshine; the broad expanse of the Pacific, with distant sails +looking like butterflies apoise; Point Loma grandly guarding the right, +and farther back the mountain view, where snowy peaks can just be +discerned over the nearer ranges; the quiet beauty of the grounds below, +where borders and ovals and beds of marguerites contrast prettily with +long lines and curves of the brilliant marigolds; grass, trees, and +hedges green as June--a view which embraces the palm and the pine, the +ocean and lofty mountains, cultivated gardens and rocky wastes, as I see +all this, I for one moment forget "unique" and exclaim, "How bold, +magnificent, and unrivalled!" Give me a new and fitting adjective to +describe what I see. Our best descriptive adjectives are so recklessly +used in daily life over minute matters, that absolutely nothing is left +for this rare combination. + +As a daughter of New Hampshire in this farthest corner of the southwest, +my mind crosses the continent to the remote northeast and the great +Stone Face of the Franconia Mountains. Chiselled by an Almighty hand, +its rugged brow seamed by the centuries, its features scarred by the +storms of ages, gazing out over the broad land, where centre the hopes +of the human race, who can forget that face, sad with the mysteries of +pain and sorrow, yet inspiring with its rugged determination, and at +times softened with the touch of sunlit hope? + +Point Loma has something of the same sphinx-like grandeur, with its long +bold promontory stretching out into the western waters. These two seem +to be keeping watch and ward over mountain and sea: each appropriate in +its place and equally impressive. There the stern prophet surveying the +home of great beginnings, the cradle of creative energy; and here, its +counterpart, a mighty recumbent lion, its dreamy, peaceful gaze turned +with confidence out over the wide Pacific to the setting sun, with +assurance of ultimate success, a pledge of aspirations satisfied, of +achievements assured, of----Whoa there! Hello! This to my runaway +steeds, Imagination and Sentiment. Brought back by a passing bell-boy, I +shall now keep a tighter rein. + +But when one first breathes the air of California, there is a curious +exaltation and excitement, which leads on irresistibly. This is often +followed by a natural depression, sleepiness, and reaction. But that +view never changes, and I know you will say the same. A florid, +effervescent, rhapsodical style seems irresistible. One man of uncommon +business ability and particularly level head caught the spirit of the +place, and wrote that "the most practical and unpoetical minds, too, +come here and go away, as they afterward gingerly admit, carrying with +them the memory of sunsets emblazoned in gold and crimson upon cloud, +sea, and mountain; of violet promontories, sails, and lighthouses +etched against the orange of a western sky; of moonlight silvering +breeze-rippled breadths of liquid blue; of distant islands shimmering in +sun-lit haze; of sunrises with crowns of glory chasing the vapory, +fleece-like shadows from the wet, irridescent beach, and silhouetting +the fishermen's sails in the opalescent tints of a glassy sea." + +Some temperaments may not be affected at all. But the first morning I +felt like leaping a five-barred fence, and the next like lying down +anywhere and sleeping indefinitely. I met a distinguished Boston artist +recently, who had just arrived. The day was superb. He seemed in a +semi-delirium of ecstasy over everything. His face glowed, his eyes +shone, his hands were full of flowers. He said, "My heart jumps so I'm +really afraid it will jump out of my body." The next morning he was +wholly subdued. It had poured all night, and the contrast was +depressing. A six-footer from Albany was in the sleepy state. "If I +don't pull out soon," he said, "I shall be bedridden. I want to sleep +after breakfast, or bowling, or bath, or my ride or dinner, and really +long to go to bed by nine." + +There has probably been more fine writing and florid rhetoric about +California than any other State in the Union. + +The Hotel del Coronado is a mammoth hostelry, yet homelike in every +part, built in a rectangle with inner court, adorned with trees, +flowers, vines, and a fountain encircled by callas; color, pure white, +roofs and chimneys red; prevailing woods, oak, ash, pine, and redwood. + +All around the inner court a series of suites of rooms, each with its +own bath and corner sitting-room--literally "a linkèd suiteness long +drawn out." It is one eighth of a mile from my bedroom to my seat in the +dining-room, so that lazy people are obliged to take daily +constitutionals whether they want to or not, sighing midway for trolley +accommodations. The dining-room may safely be called roomy, as it seats +a thousand guests, and your dearest friends could not be recognized at +the extreme end. Yet there is no dreary stretch or caravansary effect, +and to-day every seat is filled, and a dozen tourists waiting at the +door. + +Every recreation of city or country is found in this little world: +thirty billiard-tables, pool, bowling, tennis, polo, bathing (where +bucking barrel-horses and toboggan slides, fat men who produce tidal +waves, and tiny boys who do the heroic as sliders and divers, make fun +for the spectators), hunting, fishing, yachting, rowing, riding to +hounds, rabbit hunts, pigeon shoot, shooting-galleries, driving, +coaching, cards, theatre, ballroom, lectures, minstrels, exhibitions of +the Mammoth and Minute from Yosemite with the stereopticon, to Pacific +sea-mosses, the ostrich farm, the museum or maze for a morning hour, +dressing or undressing for evening display, watching the collection of +human beings who throng everywhere with a critical or humorous eye, +finding as much variety as on Broadway or Tremont Street; +dancing-classes for children; a chaperon and a master of ceremonies for +grown folks; a walk or drive twelve miles long on a smooth beach at low +tide, not forgetting the "dark room" for kodak and camera f--amateurs. + +You see many athletic, fine-looking men, who ride daringly and ride to +kill. Once a week the centre of the office is filled with game: +rabbits, quail, snipe, ducks, etc., everything here--but an undertaker. +And old Ocean eternally booming (the only permanent boom I know of in +Southern California). + +And that is what you see and hear at the Hotel del Coronado. The summer +climate is better than the winter--never too warm for comfort, the +mercury never moving for weeks. I expected constant sunshine, a +succession of June's fairest days, which would have been monotonous, to +say nothing of the effect upon crops and orchards. The rainy season is +necessary and a blessing to the land-owners, hard as it is for "lungers" +and the nervous invalids who only feel well on fine days and complain +unreasonably. + +Ten inches is the average needed just here. Rain is rainy and wet +weather is wet, but the ground dries as soon as the pelting shower is +over. I do not find the raw, searching dampness of our Eastern seashore +resorts. Here we are said to have "dry fogs" and an ideal marine +atmosphere, but it was too cold for comfort during the March rains for +those not in robust health. + +As I sit in the upper gallery and watch the throng issuing from the +dining-room, I make a nice and unerring social distinction between the +Toothpick Brigade who leave the table with the final mouthful +semi-masticated, and those who have an air of finished contentment. + +The orchestra is unusually good, giving choice selections admirably +executed. I have not decided whether music at meals is a blessing or +otherwise. If sad, it seems a mockery; if gay, an interruption. For one +extremely sensitive to time and tune it is difficult to eat to slow +measures. And when the steak is tough and a galop is going on above, it +is hard to keep up. + +Among the many fleeting impressions of faces and friends here, one or +two stand out clearly and indelibly--stars of the first magnitude in the +nebulæ--as dear Grandma Wade from Chicago, the most attractive old lady +I ever met: eighty-three years old, with a firm step, rotund figure, and +sweet, unruffled face, crowned with the softest snow-white curls, on +which rests an artistic cap trimmed with ribbons of blue or delicate +heliotrope, and small artificial flowers to match. I have known several +interesting octogenarians, but never one that surpassed her in +loveliness, wit, and positive jollity. Her spontaneous fun is better +than the labored efforts of many a famous humorist. + +She still has her ardent admirers among men as well as women, and now +and then receives an earnest proposal from some lonely old fellow. + +The last of these aged lovers, when refused and relegated to the +position of a brother, urged her to reconsider this important matter, +making it a subject of prayer. But she quietly said, "I'm not going to +bother the Lord with questions I can answer myself." When choked by a +bread-crumb at table, she said to the frightened waiter, as soon as she +had regained her breath, "Never mind, if that did go down the wrong way, +a great many good things have gone down the right way this winter." + +She is invariably cheerful, and when parting with her son for the winter +she said, "Well, John, I want to know before I go just what you have +left me in your will!" which little joke changed a tear into a smile. + +Even when ill she is still bright and hopeful, so that a friend +exclaimed, "Grandma, I do believe you would laugh if you were dying;" +and she replied, "Well, so many folks go to the Lord with a long face, I +guess He will be glad to see one come in smiling." + +Oh, how repulsive the artificial bloom, the cosmetics and hair-dyes +which make old age a horror, compared with her natural beauty! God bless +and keep dear Grandma Wade! + +Little "Ted" is another character and favorite, and his letter to his +nurse in New York gives a good idea of how the place affects a bright, +impressionable child. + + "My dear Julia: _It is a dummy near the hotel and it takes five + days to come here and there is an island right beyond the boat + house and they have a pigeon shoot every week. And there is six + hundred people here Julia, one hundred and fifty came yesterday._ + + "_There is a mountin across the river and a house very far away by + itself, Julia. I play in the sand every day of my life, and I take + swimming lessons and I have two oranges. California is the biggest + world in the country and there is a tree very, very far away. Julia + it is a puzzle walk near the hotel, Rose and me went all through it + and Julia, we got our way out easy._" + +He has it all. All the trees are cultivated here, so I looked round for +the one Ted spoke of, and find it lights up at night and revolves for +the aid of the mariners. I think that all Californians echo his +sentiment that "California is the biggest world in the country"; and +compared with the hard work of the New England farmers, what is the +cultivation of orchards but playing in the sand with golden oranges? +Some one says that Californians "irrigate, cultivate, and exaggerate." + +Charles Nordhoff, the veteran journalist and author, lives within sight +of the hotel (which he pronounces the most perfect and charming hotel he +knows of in Europe or America), in a rambling bungalow consisting of +three small cottages moved from different points and made into one. He +believes in California for "health, pleasure, and residence." It is a +rare privilege to listen to his conversation, sitting by his open fire +or at his library table, or when he is entertaining friends at dinner. + +So ends my sketch of Coronado. Coronado! What a perfect word! Musical, +euphonious, regal, "the crowned"! The name of the governor of New +Galicia, and captain-general of the Spanish army, sent forth in 1540 in +search of the seven cities of Cibola. General J. H. Simpson, U. S. A., +has written a valuable monograph on "Coronado's March," which can be +found in the Smithsonian Report for 1869. + +I intend to avoid statistics and history on the one side, and +extravagant eulogy on the other. + +Now we will say good-by to our new friends, take one more look at Point +Loma, and cross the ferry to San Diego. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +SAN DIEGO. + + + "The truly magnificent, and--with reason--famous port of San + Diego."--_From the first letter of Father Junipero in Alto + California._ + +Fifteen cents for motor, ferry, and car will take you to Hotel Florence, +on the heights overlooking the bay, where I advise you to stop. The +Horton House is on an open, sunny site, and is frequented by +"transients" and business men of moderate means. The Brewster is a +first-class hotel, with excellent table. The Florence is not a large +boarding-house or family hotel, but open for all. It has a friendly, +homelike atmosphere, without the exactions of an ultra-fashionable +resort. The maximum January temperature is seventy-four degrees, while +that of July is seventy-nine degrees, and invalid guests at this house +wear the same weight clothing in summer that they do in winter. The +rooms of this house are all sunny, and each has a charming ocean or +mountain view. It is easy to get there; hard to go away. Arriving from +Coronado Beach, I was reminded of the Frenchman who married a quiet +little home body after a desperate flirtation with a brilliant society +queen full of tyrannical whims and capricious demands. When this was +commented on as surprising, he explained that after playing with a +squirrel one likes to take a cat in his lap. Really, it is so restful +that the building suggests a big yellow tabby purring sleepily in the +sunshine. I sat on the veranda, or piazza, taking a sun-bath, in a happy +dream or doze, until the condition of nirvana was almost attained. What +day of the week was it? And the season? Who could tell? And who cares? +Certainly no one has the energy to decide it. Last year, going there to +spend one day, I remained for five weeks, hypnotized by my +environments--beguiled, deluded, unconscious of the flight of time, +serenely happy. Many come for a season, and wake up after five or six +years to find it is now their home. "There seems to exist in this +country a something which cheats the senses; whether it be in the air, +the sunshine, or in the ocean breeze, or in all three combined, I cannot +say. Certainly the climate is not the home-made common-sense article of +the anti-Rocky Mountain States; and unreality is thrown round life--all +walk and work in a dream." + +At Coronado Beach one rushes out after breakfast for an all-day +excursion or morning tramp; here one sits and sits, always intending to +go somewhere or do something, until the pile of unanswered letters +accumulates and the projected trips weary one in a dim perspective. It +is all so beautiful, so new, so wonderful! San Diego is the Naples of +America, with the San Jacinto Mountains for a background and the blue +sunlit bay to gaze upon, and one of the finest harbors in the world. Yet +with all this, few have the energy even to go a-fishing. + +Now, as a truthful "tourist," I must admit that in the winter there are +many days when the sun does not shine, and the rainy season is not +altogether cheerful for the invalid and the stranger. Sunshine, glorious +golden sunshine, is what we want all the time; but we do not get it. I +noticed that during the heavy rains the invalids retired to their rooms, +overcome by the chill and dampness, and some were seriously ill. But +then they would have been in their graves if they had remained in the +East. There are many charming people residing in San Diego, well, happy, +useful, who know they can never safely return to their old homes. + +There has been such a rosy glamour thrown over southern California by +enthusiastic romancers that many are disappointed when they fail to find +an absolute Paradise. + +Humboldt said of California: "The sky is constantly serene and of a deep +blue, and without a cloud; and should any clouds appear for a moment at +the setting of the sun, they display the most beautiful shades of +violet, purple, and green."[1] + +[Footnote 1: Humboldt had never been in Alta California, and procured +this information in Mexico or Spain.] + +Now, after reading that, a real rainy day, when the water leaks through +the roof and beats in at the doors, makes a depressed invalid feel like +a drenched fowl standing forlornly on one leg in the midst of a New +England storm. With snow-covered mountains on one side and the ocean +with its heavy fogs on the other, and the tedious rain pouring down with +gloomy persistence, and consumptives coughing violently, and physicians +hurrying in to attend to a sudden hemorrhage or heart-failure, the scene +is not wholly gay and inspiriting. But when the sun comes forth again +and the flowers (that look to me a little tired of blooming all the +time) brighten up with fresh washed faces, and all vegetation rejoices +and you can almost see things grow, and the waves dance and glitter, and +the mountains no longer look cold and threatening but seem like painted +scenery, _a la_ Bierstadt, hung up for our admiration, and the valleys +breathe the spicy fragrance of orange blossoms, we are once more happy, +and ready to rave a little ourselves over the much-talked-of "bay 'n' +climate." But there are dangers even on the sunniest day. I know a +young physician who came this year on a semi-professional tour, to try +the effects of inhalations on tuberculosis, and it was so delightfully +warm that he straightway took off his flannels, was careless about night +air, and was down with pneumonia. + +The tourist or traveller who writes of San Diego usually knows nothing +of it but a week or two in winter or early spring. + +Southern California has fifty-two weeks in the year, and for two thirds +of this time the weather is superb. + +I can imagine even a mission Indian grunting and complaining if taken to +our part of the country in the midst of a week's storm. We flee from +deadly horrors of climate to be fastidiously critical. If, in midsummer, +sweltering sufferers in New York or Chicago could be transported to this +land they would not hurry away. The heat is rarely above eighty-five +degrees, and nearly always mitigated by a refreshing breeze from the +bay. I am assured that there have not been five nights in as many years +when one or more blankets have not been necessary for comfort. In summer +everything is serene. No rain, no thunder-storms, no hail, or +water-spouts. (The dust pest is never spoken of!) The picnic can be +arranged three weeks ahead without an anxious thought about the weather. +The summer sunsets are marvellously beautiful. + +One must summer and winter here before he can judge fairly, and the +hyper-sensitive should tarry in New Mexico or in the desert until +spring. I believe that rheumatic or neuralgic invalids should avoid the +damp resorts to which they are constantly flocking only to be +dissatisfied. Every sort of climate can be found in the State, so that +no one has the right to grumble. + +Do not take off flannels, although the perspiration does trickle down +the side of your face as you sit in the sun. A fur cape is always needed +to protect one shoulder from a chilling breeze while the other side is +toasted. It is not safe for new-comers to be out-of-doors after four or +five o'clock in the afternoon, nor must they ride in open cars except +in the middle of the day. These innocent diversions give the doctors +their support. + +Bill Nye, with his usual good sense, refused to drive in a pouring rain +to view the scenery and orchards when visiting San Diego in March, and +says: "Orange orchards are rare and beautiful sights, but when I can sit +in this warm room, gathered about a big coal fire, and see miles of them +from the window, why should I put on my fur overcoat and a mackintosh in +order to freeze and cry out with assumed delight every half-mile while I +gradually get Pomona of the lungs?" + +There are many places worth visiting if you can rouse yourselves for the +effort. Point Loma, twelve miles distant, gives a wonderful view, one of +the finest in the world. I warrant you will be so famished on arriving +that you will empty every lunch-basket before attending to the outlook. +National City, Sweet Water Dam, Tia Juana (Aunt Jane), La Jolla--you +will hear of all these. I have tried them and will report. + +The Kimball brothers, Warren and Frank, who came from New Hampshire +twenty-five years ago and devoted their energies to planting orchards of +oranges, lemons, and olives, have made the desert bloom, and found the +business most profitable. You will like to watch the processes of +pickling olives and pressing out the clear amber oil, which is now used +by consumptives in preference to the cod-liver oil. Many are rubbed with +it daily for increasing flesh. It is delicious for the table, but the +profits are small, as cotton-seed oil is much cheaper. Lemons pay better +than oranges, Mr. Kimball tells me. Mrs. Flora Kimball has worked side +by side with her husband, who is an enthusiast for the rights of woman. +She is progressive, and ready to help in every good work, with great +executive ability and a hearty appreciation of any good quality in +others. + +It does not pay to take the trip to Mexico if time is limited, there is +so little of Mexico in it. After leaving the train and getting into an +omnibus, the voluble darkey in charge soon shouts out, "We are now +crossing the line," but as no difference of scene is observed, it is not +deeply impressive. One young fellow got out and jumped back and forth +over the line, so that if asked on his return if he had been to Mexico +he could conscientiously answer, "Oh yes, many times." We were then +taken to the custom-house, where we mailed some hastily scribbled +letters for the sake of using a Mexican stamp,--some preferred it +stamped on a handkerchief. And near by is the curio store, where you +find the same things which are seen everywhere, and where you will +doubtless buy a lot of stuff and be sorry for it. But whatever other +folly you may be led into, let me implore you to wholly abstain from +that deadly concoction, the Mexican _tamale_. Ugh! I can taste mine now. + +A _tamale_ is a curious and dubious combination of chicken hash, meal, +olives, red pepper, and I know not what, enclosed in a corn-husk, +steamed until furiously hot, and then offered for sale by Mexicans in +such a sweet, appealing way that few can resist the novelty. It has a +more uncertain pedigree than the sausage, and its effects are serious. + +A friend of mine tasted a small portion of one late at night. It was +later before she could sleep, and then terrible nightmares intruded upon +her slumber. Next morning she looked so ill and enfeebled, so unlike her +rosy self, that we begged to know the cause. The tale was thrilling. She +thought a civil war had broken out and she could not telegraph to her +distant spouse. The agony was intense. She must go to him with her five +children, and at once. They climbed mountains, tumbled into cañons, were +arrested in their progress by cataracts and wild storms, and even the +hostile Indian appeared in full war-paint at a point above. This awoke +her, only to fall into another horrible situation. An old lover suddenly +returned, tried to approach her; she screamed, "I am now a married +woman!"--he lifted his revolver, and once again she returned to +consciousness and the _tamale_, and brandy, and Brown's Jamaica ginger. +If she had eaten half the _tamale_ the pistol would doubtless have +completed its deadly work. A kind old gentleman of our party bought a +dozen to treat us all. We were obliged to refuse, and it was amusing to +watch him in his endeavor to get rid of them. At last he made several +journeys to the car door, throwing out a few each trip in a solemn way. +He didn't want to hurt the feelings of the natives by casting them all +out at once. + +Sweet Water Dam is a triumph of engineering, one of the largest dams in +the world, holding six million gallons of water, used for irrigating +ranches in Sweet Water Valley; and at La Jolla you will find pretty +shells and clamber down to the caves. There the stones are slippery, and +an absorbing flirtation should be resisted, as the tide often intrudes +most unexpectedly, and in dangerous haste. Besides the caves the +attractions are the fishing and the kelp beds. These kelp beds form a +submarine garden, and the water is so clear that one can see beautiful +plants, fish, etc., at forty or fifty feet below the sea surface--not +unlike the famous sea-gardens at Nassau in the Bahamas. There is a good +hotel, open the year round. + +Lakeside is a quiet inland retreat twenty-two miles from San Diego, +where many go for a little excursion and change of air. The Lakeside +Hotel has seventy large rooms and complete appointments. The table is +supplied with plenty of milk and _real_ cream from their own cows, +vegetables and fruit from the neighboring ranches, game in its season, +shot on the lake near by, and, in the valleys, meats from homegrown +stock. The guests who are not too invalidish often go out for long +drives, never forgetting the lunch-baskets. One day we try the Alpine +stage. Winding across the mesa at the rear of the hotel, we have a +lovely view of the little lake half hidden in the trees, reflecting in +its quiet surface the mountains that rise up beyond it. Gradually +climbing upward, we come to a tract of land that is watered by the +Flume. To our surprise we learn that this is practically frostless, and +that since this has been discovered many young orchards of oranges and +lemons have been planted. The red mesa land on the side-hills will not +be touched by the frosts of a cold night when the valley at its foot +will have enough frost to kill all tender growth. This is a new +discovery, and has placed thousands of acres on the market as suitable +for the culture of citrus fruits. Do you notice how the appearance of +the landscape is changing? The nearer hills are much sharper and +steeper, and their sides are studded by great boulders. There are stone +walls, and here and there are great flocks of sheep. The horses stop of +their own accord at a lovely spot where they are used to getting a drink +of cool spring water. Did any ever taste quite so good as that drunk +from an old dipper after a long warm drive? The live-oaks and sycamores +look too inviting to be resisted, and we get out to explore while the +horses are resting. Underneath the evergreen shade we pick up some of +the large pointed acorns and carry them away as souvenirs. This would be +a delightful spot for a picnic, but we have many miles before us and +must go on. In a few more miles we reach a little town known as +"Alpine." In the distance looms the Viejas, and if any of the party wish +to travel over a grade, now is the opportunity. The top of the grade +brings us to a lovely view. Eastward is an unbroken chain of +mountain-peaks, from whose summits may be seen the broad Pacific on one +side and the Colorado Desert on the other. + +One of the favorite drives is into the Monte. This is a large park or +tract of a thousand acres. On each side the hills rise, and in front El +Cajon shows new beauties with every step of the way. Great live-oaks +with enormous trunks, ancient sycamores, elders, and willows make in +some spots a dense shade. On the edge of the hillsides the Flume may be +seen, which furnishes many ranches as well as the city of San Diego with +the purest mountain water. Underneath the trees and up on the rocks the +lover of flowers and ferns will scramble. There are the dainty +forget-me-nots, tiny flowers of starry white, flowers of pale orange +with centres of deep maroon, the wild galliardia, and the wild peony +with its variegated leaves. Many other delicate blossoms which we cannot +stop to describe are there too. And the ferns! All kinds may be found +by the initiated, and many are close at hand. The fern lined with gold +or with silver, the running ferns, the ferns of lace-like fineness, the +ferns as soft as velvet, all growing in the greatest profusion. And each +day of the week a different drive and new delights. + +There is the valley of El Cajon ("the box"), which should be visited in +grape-picking time. The great Boston ranch alone employs three hundred +and twenty-five pickers. Men, women, children, all busy, and the grapes +when just turned are sweet, spicy, and delicious, making the air +fragrant. This valley is dotted with handsome villas and prosperous +ranches. The range of mountains which looms up before us from the +veranda of the hotel is not yet dignified by a name, yet it is more +imposing than the White Mountains, and in the distance we see old +Cuyamaca, nearly seven thousand feet high. But we must take the next +train for San Diego, or this chapter will be a volume in itself. And I +have not even alluded to the "Great Back Country." + +The founder of San Diego is still living, still hopeful, still young at +heart. "Father" Horton, the typical pioneer, deserves more honors than +he has yet received. Coming from Connecticut to California in 1851, he +soon made a small fortune in mining, buying and selling gold-dust, and +providing the diggers with ice and water for their work. He rode over +the country in those lawless times selling the precious dust disguised +as a poverty-stricken good-for-naught, with trusty revolver always in +his right hand on the pommel of the saddle--the handsome green saddle +covered with an old potato sack. In this way he evaded the very men who +had been on his track for weeks. Once he came near capture. He passed a +bad-looking lot of horsemen, one of whom had a deep red scar the whole +length of his cheek. He got by safely, but one, looking round, +exclaimed, "My God! That's Horton! I see the green saddle." And back +they dashed to kill him and gain his treasure, but he escaped into a +cañon, and they lost their one chance. + +At another time he had $3500 in gold in his belt, and at a tavern of +poor repute he could hear through cracks in the floor of his bedroom the +gamblers below laughing about the old greenhorn above who had his supper +of mush and milk and had asked for a lock on his door. + +Returning East _via_ Panama in 1856, he proved himself a hero and a +soldier during the terrible riot there. The natives, angry because they +had lost the money they used to make in transporting passengers, +attacked the foreigners, killing and plundering all who came in their +way, the police turning traitors and aiding them. The hotel was +attacked, and among all the passengers only three were armed. Mr. Horton +and these two young men stood at the top of the stairs and shot all who +tried to get nearer. When they fell back eight rioters were dead and +others wounded. Then Mr. Horton formed the two hundred passengers in +order and marched them off to a lighter, and put them aboard the +steamer. About half this number wanted to go on to San Francisco, but +had lost all their money and baggage. Mr. Ralston and Mr. Horton helped +many to pay their passage, but not one person was ever heard of again, +not one cent was returned, not even one word of gratitude or good +intentions. + +Up to the period which is known as the boom of 1870-71, the history of +San Diego was so interwoven and closely connected with the life of Mr. +Horton that the story of one is inseparable from that of the other. + +When Mr. Horton came from San Francisco to see the wonderful harbor +described by friends, there was nothing there but two old buildings, the +barren hillsides, and the sheep pastures. + +His gifts to the city and to individuals amount to a present valuation +of over a million of dollars. Of the nine hundred acres of land which he +originally bought (a part of the Mexican grant) at twenty-seven cents an +acre, he owns but little. + +But it is to his common sense, foresight, and business ability that the +present city owes much of its success; and it is interesting to hear him +tell of exciting adventures in "Poker Flat," and other places which Bret +Harte has worked up so successfully. + +Lieut. George H. Derby is amusingly associated with "Old Town," the +former San Diego, three miles from the present city. He had offended +Jefferson Davis, then Secretary of War, by his irreverent wit, and was +punished by exile to this then almost unknown region, which he called +"Sandy Ague," chiefly inhabited by the flea, the horned toad, and the +rattlesnake. Mr. Ames, of the _Herald_, a democratic paper, asked Derby, +a stanch whig, to occupy the editorial chair during a brief absence. He +did so, changing its politics at once, and furnishing funny articles +which later appeared as "Phoenixiana," and ranked him with Artemus Ward +as a genuine American humorist. Here is his closing paragraph after +those preposterous somersaults and daring pranks as editor _pro tem_: + +"Very little news will be found in the _Herald_ this week; the fact is, +there never is much news in it, and it is very well that it is so; the +climate here is so delightful that residents in the enjoyment of their +_dolce far niente_ care very little about what is going on elsewhere, +and residents of other places care very little about what is going on +in San Diego, so all parties are likely to be gratified with the little +paper, 'and long may it wave.'" + +The present city has eighteen thousand inhabitants, twenty-three church +organizations, remarkably fine schools, a handsome opera-house, broad +asphalt pavements, electric lights, electric and cable cars,--a compact, +well-built city, from the fine homes on the Heights to the business +portion near the water. + +In regard to society, I find that the "best society" is much the same +all over the civilized world. Accomplished, cultured, well-bred men and +women are found in every town and city in California. And distance from +metropolitan privileges makes people more independent, better able to +entertain themselves and their guests, more eagerly appreciative of the +best in every direction. + + "O city reflecting thy might from the sea, + There is grandeur and power in the future for thee, + Whose flower-broidered garments the soft billows lave, + Thy brow on the hillside, thy feet in the wave." + +Many of San Diego's guests have no idea of her at her best. The majority +of winter tourists leave California just as Mother Nature braces up to +do her best with wild-flowers, blossoming orchards, and waving +grain-fields. The summers are really more enjoyable than the winters. +When the Nicaragua Canal is completed it will be a pleasant trip to San +Diego from any Atlantic seaport. A railroad to Phoenix, Arizona, _via_ +Yuma, will allow the melting, panting, gasping inhabitants of New Mexico +and Arizona an opportunity to get into a delightfully cool climate. + + +THE INDIANS AND THE MISSION FATHERS. + +As for Indians, I have never seen such Indians as Helen Hunt Jackson +depicts so lovingly. I have never seen any one who has seen one. They +existed in her imagination only, as did Fenimore Cooper's noble redmen +of the forest solely in his fancy. Both have given us delightful novels, +and we are grateful. + +The repulsive stolid creatures I have seen at stations, with sullen +stare, long be-vermined locks, and filthy blankets full of fleas, are +possibly not a fair representation of the remnants of the race. They +have been unfairly dealt with. I am glad they can be educated and +improved. They seem to need it. After reading "Ramona" and Mrs. +Jackson's touching article on the "Mission Indians in California," and +then looking over the opinions of honest writers of a previous +generation regarding the Indians, it is more puzzling than ever. The +following criticisms apply exclusively to the Southern Californian +tribes. + +Mr. Robinson, after a twenty years' residence among them, said: "The +Indian of California is a species of monkey; he imitates and copies +white men, but selects vice in preference to virtue. He is hypocritical +and treacherous, never looks at any one in conversation, but has a +wandering, malicious gaze. Truth is not in him." + +And the next testimony is from an Indian curate: "The Indians lead a +life of indolence rather than devote themselves to the enlightening of +their souls with ideas of civilization and cultivation; it is repugnant +to their feelings, which have become vitiated by the unrestricted +customs among them. Their inclination to possess themselves of the +property of others is unbounded. Their hypocrisy when they pray is as +much to be feared as their insolence when in tumultuous disorder. They +are never grateful for any benefit, nor do they pardon an injury, and +they never proffer civilities, unless to accomplish some interested +motive. They are ready to expose themselves to the greatest danger to +satisfy their predominant passions. The future from them is ever veiled +by the present. Their inconstancy and want of confidence deprives them +of friends, and he who by deception holds them in subjection may reduce +them to almost abject slavery." + +Dana, speaking of the language of the Californian Indians, described it +as "brutish" and "a complete slabber." + +The missionary Fathers did their best to teach and convert them, and the +missions must be spoken of. So we will go back a little. + +No one knows how California was so named. St. Diego was the patron saint +of Spain. St. Francis, who founded the Franciscan order, was a gay young +Italian, who after conversion led a life of mortification and extreme +self-denial, tramped about like a beggar, scourged himself, slept on +ground, rolled in snow to subdue the flesh, fasted, wept until he was +almost blind, saw visions, like all other great religious leaders, +received messages directly from Christ, and was at last rewarded with +the stigmata (the marks of the crucifix on his body), and commemoration +after death. + +Father Junipero, of this order, was appointed presiding missionary of +California, and arrived July, 1769, erected a great cross on the coast, +celebrated mass, and commenced his work. Like St. Francis, he was +earnest, devout, pure, and self-sacrificing, blessed with wonderful +magnetism. Once, while exhorting his hearers to repent, he scourged his +own shoulders so unmercifully with a chain that his audience shuddered +and wept; and one man, overcome by emotion, rushed to the pulpit, +secured the chain, and, disrobing, flogged himself to death. This holy +Father believed that he was especially protected by Heaven, and that +once, when journeying on a desolate road, he was hospitably entertained +by the Holy Family. + +He said, "I have placed my faith in God, and trust in His goodness to +plant the standard of the holy cross not only at San Diego, but even as +far as Monterey." + +And this was done in less than ten years, but with many discouragements. + +The first Indian who was induced to bring his baby for baptism got +frightened, and dashed away, taking, however, the handsome piece of +cloth which had been wrapped around the child for the ceremony. + +Next there was an attack with arrows; in less than a month serious +fighting followed; and later more than one thousand Indians joined in +the attack. One priest was killed and all inhabitants of the mission +more or less wounded, and the mission itself was burned. The present +ruins are the "new" buildings on the site of the old, completed in 1784, +the walls of adobe four feet thick, the doorways and windows of burnt +tiles. These half-cylindrical plates of hard-burnt clay were used to +protect the inmates from the sun and the burning arrows of the Indians, +and are now greatly valued as relics. + +In front is the orchard of three hundred olive trees, more than a +century old, still bearing a full crop, and likely to do so for +centuries to come. As the Indians disliked work much, and church +services more, they were encouraged in both matters by rather forcible +means, as the Irishman "enticed" the pig into his pen with a pitchfork. +We "tourists" who, dismounting from our carriages, view with sentimental +reverence the picturesque ruins, the crumbling arches, the heavy bells +now silent but mutely telling a wondrous story of the past, and tiptoe +quietly through the damp interiors, gazing at pictures of saints and of +hell and paradise, dropping our coins into the box at the door, and +going out duly impressed to admire the architecture or the carving, or +the general fine effect against the sky of fleckless blue--we picture +these sable neophytes coming gladly, bowing in devout homage, delighted +to learn of God and Duty, and cheerfully coöperating with the good +priests who had come so far to teach them. In 1827 the San Diego mission +had within its boundaries an Indian population of 1500, 10,000 head of +cattle, 17,000 sheep, and more than 1000 horses. But Mr. Robinson tells +us that the Indians were dragged to service, were punished and chained +if they tried to escape, and that it was not unusual to see numbers of +them driven along by a leader and forced with a whip-lash into the doors +of the sanctuary. + +It is said that they were literally enslaved and scared into submission +by dreadful pictures of hell and fear of everlasting torment. After +church they would gamble, and they often lost everything, even wives and +children. They were low, brutal, unintelligent, with an exceedingly +limited vocabulary and an unbounded appetite. A man is as he eats, and, +as some one says, "If a man eats peanuts he will think peanuts." + +"There was nothing that could be swallowed and digested which the San +Diego Indian would not eat. Snakes, half roasted and even raw, were +toothsome dainties. The horned toad and the lizard had favorite places +at each repast. Human parasites were not refused, and mice, gophers, +bats, caterpillars, worms, entrails, and even carrion, were consumed +with a greed that did not stop at pounds. Hittel says that twenty-four +pounds of meat in a day was not too much for a Californian Indian, and +Baegart mentions the case of one native who ate seventeen watermelons at +a sitting. The smoking of wild tobacco was carried on to equal excess." + +The saintly Fathers deserve unlimited praise for making them accomplish +so much and behave as well as they did. Those New Englanders who +criticise them as severe in discipline must remember that at the same +period our ancestors were persecuting Quakers and burning witches. The +beautiful hospitality of these early priests should also be mentioned. + +Alfred Robinson described a miracle play which he saw performed at San +Diego at Christmas, in 1830, as akin to the miracle plays of mediæval +Europe. The actors took the part of Gabriel, Lucifer, shepherds, a +hermit, and Bartolo, a lazy vagabond who was the clown and furnished the +element of comedy: the whole interspersed with songs and incidents +better adapted to the stage than to the church. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +EN ROUTE TO LOS ANGELES. + + + "Bless me, this is pleasant, + Riding on the rail!" + +On the Surf Line from San Diego to Los Angeles, a seventy-mile run along +the coast, there is so much to see, admire, and think about, that the +time passes rapidly without napping or nodding. Take a chair seat on the +left of car--the ocean side--and enjoy the panoramic view from the +window: the broad expanse of the Pacific, its long curling breakers, the +seals and porpoises tumbling about in clumsy frolics, the graceful gulls +circling above them, the picturesque cañons, and the flocks of birds +starting from the ground, frightened by our approach. This we watch for +more than an hour; then the scene changes, and, leaving the water, we +have glimpses of wondrous carpets of wild-flowers, the golden poppy +predominant, miles of brilliant green on either hand, peeps at the three +missions, the groves at Orange, the town of Santa Ana, and Anaheim, the +parent colony, the first of all the irrigated settlements of Southern +California, now a wealthy city. + +The missions are always interesting. San Juan Capistrano was seriously +injured by an earthquake in 1812; the tower was shaken so severely that +it toppled over during morning mass, killing thirty of the worshippers, +the priests escaping through the sacristy. It was the latest and +costliest of the missions. "Its broken olive mill and crumbling +dove-cote, and the spacious weed-grown courts and corridors, are +pathetic witnesses to the grandeur of the plans and purposes of the +founders, and also of the rapidity with which nature effaces the noblest +works of human hands." + +But San Luis Rey is in good condition, having been restored to something +of its original beauty, and recently re-dedicated. The walled +enclosures once contained fifty-six acres, six being covered by the +sacred edifice, its arched colonnades, and the cloisters, in which the +Fathers lived, surrounded by three thousand baptized savages. Mrs. +Jeanne C. Carr quotes a stage-driver with whom she talked on the box as +saying: "Ye see, ma'am, what them old padders didn't know 'bout findin' +work for their subjicks and pervidin' for the saints 'n' angels, not to +say therselves, wa'n't wuth knowin'. They carried on all kinds o' +bizness. Meat was plenty, keepin' an' vittles was to be had at all the +missions an' ranches too, jes' by settin' round. The pastures and hills +was alive with horses and cattle, an' hides an' taller was their coin. +They cured and stacked the hides, dug holes in stiff ground, an' run the +taller into 'em; it kep' sweet until a ship laid up to Capistrano, _then +that taller turned into gold_. They could load up a big ship in a single +day, they had so many Indians to help." And he proceeded to tell of his +own lucky find: "A lot of that holy taller was lost 'n' fergot, nobuddy +knows how many years. One night I went up into the grass beyant the +mission to stake out my hosses; an' when I druv the fust stake it went +way deawn, like 'twas in soft mud. I jes' yanked it up: half on 't was +kivered with grease. The evening was cool, but the day had been brilin', +an' now mebbe ye kin guess how I found my taller mine. 'Twas a leetle +mouldy on top, but the heft on 't was hard,--a reg'lar bonanzy fer a +stage-driver." + +It may seem irreverent to introduce this droll fellow in sharp contrast +with the beautiful ruin, full of the most cherished memories of old +Spain, but reality often gives romance a hard jar. It is pleasant to +know that the expelled Franciscan order has just returned to California, +and that San Luis Rey is now occupied. It is worth making the trip to +San Juan to see the old bells struck, as in former times, by a rope +attached to the clapper. They have different tones, and how eloquently +they speak to us. These missions along the coast and a line farther +inland are the only real ruins that we have in America, and must be +preserved, whether as a matter of sentiment or money, and in some way +protected from the vandals who think it jolly fun to lug off the old red +tiles, or even the stone bowl for holy water--anything they can steal. +At San Juan the plaster statues have been disgracefully mutilated by +relic-hunters and thoughtless visitors. Eyes have been picked out, noses +cut off, fingers carried away, and the altar-cloths everywhere have been +slashed at the corners. + +A society has been formed to try to save them, and one learned and +enthusiastic mission lover proposes to revive the old Camino del Rey, or +King's Highway. "What could not the drive from San Diego to Sonoma be +made if the State once roused herself to make it? Planted and watered +and owned as an illustration of forestry, why should it not also as a +route of pilgrimage rank with that to Canterbury or Cologne on the +Rhine? The Franciscans have given to California a nomenclature which +connects them and us permanently with what was great in their +contemporary history, while we preserve daily upon our lips the names of +the great chiefs of their own order." + +But where am I? Those mouldering walls led me into a reverie. Speaking +of "ruins" reminds me of a Frenchman who called on the poet Longfellow +in his old age and explained his visit in this way: "Sare, you 'ave no +ruins in dis country, so I 'ave come to see you." + +The cactus hedge around each mission to keep the cattle in, and possibly +the hostile Indians out, must have been effective. We see now and then a +little that has survived. This makes me think of a curious bird I +noticed in my drives at San Diego, the roadrunner, classed with the +cuckoo. It has various names, the chaparral-cock, the ground-cuckoo, the +prairie-cock, paisano, and worst of all, in classic nomenclature, the +_Geococcyx californianus_. + +It keeps on the ground most of the time, and can run with such swiftness +that it cannot be easily overtaken by horse and hounds. It has a tail +longer than its body, which it bears erect. It kills beetles, toads, +birds, and mice, but has a special dislike for the rattlesnake, and +often meets him and beats him in fair combat. When it finds one sleeping +or torpid it makes a circle of cactus thorns around him so he cannot +escape--for "future reference," as my driver said. + +This thorny circle is akin to the lariat made of horsehair, the ends +sticking out roughly all around, with which the Indian used to encircle +himself before going to sleep, as a protection from the rattlesnake, who +could not cross it. But here we are at Los Angeles. Hear the bawling +cabbies: "This way for The Westminster!" "Hollenbeck Hotel!" + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +LOS ANGELES AND ROUND ABOUT. + + + "O southland! O dreamland! with cycles of green; + O moonlight enchanted by mocking-bird's song; + Cool sea winds, fair mountains, the fruit-lands between, + The pepper tree's shade, and the sunny days long." + +Los Angeles is the chief city of Southern California, and truly +venerable in comparison with most places in the State--founded in 1781, +now one hundred and twelve years old. Its full name, "Nuestra Senora la +Reina de los Angeles," "musical as a chime of bells," would hardly do in +these days, and "The City of the Angels," as it is sometimes called, +scarcely suits the present big business-y place, which was started by +those shrewd old padres when everything west of the Alleghanies was an +almost unknown region, and Chicago and St. Louis were not thought of. +These Fathers were far-sighted fellows, with a keen eye for the +beautiful, sure to secure good soil, plenty of water, and fine scenery +for a settlement. Next came the Hispano-American era of adobe, +stage-coaches, and mule teams, now replaced by the purely American +possessions, with brick, stone, vestibule trains, and all the wonders of +electricity. It is now a commercial centre, a railroad terminal, with +one hundred miles of street-car track within the city limits, carrying +twelve million passengers yearly. It has outgrown the original grant of +six miles square, and has a city limit, and the first street traversed +this square diagonally. It lies on the west bank of the Los Angeles +River, one of those peculiar streams which hides itself half the year +only to burst forth in the spring in a most assertive manner. There are +fine public buildings, fifty-seven churches, to suit all shades of +religious belief, two handsome theatres, several parks, and long streets +showing homes and grounds comparing favorably with the best environs of +Eastern cities. It is well to drive through Adams and Figueroa streets +before you leave. There are no attractive hotels at present; but one is +so greatly needed and desired that it will soon be designed and +realized. + +Madame de Staël was right when she said she greatly preferred meeting +interesting men and women to admiring places or scenery. Among my +pleasantest memories of Los Angeles are my visits to Madame Fremont in +her pretty red cottage, presented by loving friends. It is a privilege +to meet such a clever, versatile woman. Her conversation flashes with +epigrams and pithy sayings, and her heart is almost as young as when it +was captured by the dashing "Pathfinder." + +I believe there are men still existing who keep up the old absurd +fallacy that women are deficient in wit and humor! She would easily +convert all such. + +The Coronels, to whom Mrs. Jackson was so indebted and of whom she wrote +so appreciatively, are still in the same home, cherishing her memory +most fondly, her photograph being placed in a shrine where the +sweet-faced madame kneels daily, and her books and knick-knacks are +preserved as precious souvenirs. + +Don Antonio Coronel is truly a most interesting personage, the last +specimen of the grand old Spanish régime. His father was the first +schoolmaster in California, and the son has in his possession the first +schoolbook printed on this coast, at Monterey in 1835, a small +catechism; also the first book printed in California, a tiny volume +dated 1833, the father having brought the type from Spain. + +I was taken to the basement to see a rare collection of antiquities. In +one corner is a cannon made in 1710, and brought by Junipero Serra. +Ranged on shelves is a collection such as can be found nowhere else, of +great value: strange stone idols, a few specimens of the famous +iridescent pottery, queer ornaments, toys, and relics. In another corner +see the firearms and weapons of long ago: old flintlocks, muskets, +Spanish bayonets, crossbows, and spears. There are coins, laces, +baskets, toys, skulls, scalps, and a sombrero with two long red +pennons, on which each feather represents a human scalp. Upstairs there +are early specimens of Mexican art; one of the oldest pictures of +Junipero Serra; groups in clay modelled by the Dona Mariana of Mexican +scenes; feather pictures made from the plumage of gorgeous birds--too +much to remember or describe here. But I do believe that if asked to say +what they valued most, they would point to the little wooden table where +their dear friend sat when she wrote the first pages of "Ramona." + +For the stranger Los Angeles is the place to go to to see a new play, or +marvel at the display of fruits seen at a citrus fair--forts made of +thousands of oranges, and railroad stations and crowns of lemons, +etc.--and admire a carnival of flowers, or for a day's shopping; but +there are better spots in which to remain. I found the night air +extremely unpleasant last winter, and after hearing from a veracious +druggist, to whom I applied for a gargle, that there was an epidemic of +grip in the city, and that many died of pneumonia and that a small +majority of the invalids got well, I packed my trunk hastily and started +for Pasadena. + +Those who live in the city and those who do not dislike raw, bracing +winds from the ocean pronounce Los Angeles to be the _only_ place worth +living in in all Southern California. Each place has its supporters +ignoring all other attractions, and absolutely opposite accounts of the +weather have been seriously given me by visitors to each. For those who +must be "high and dry" to improve, the rainy season is certainly unsafe. + +Los Angeles is also a place to go from to the beach at Santa Monica, and +Redondo, or that wondrous island, "Santa Catalina," which has been +described by Mr. C. F. Holder in the _Californian_ so enthusiastically +that I should think the "Isle of Summer" could not receive all who would +unite to share his raptures--with a climate nearer to absolute +perfection than any land, so near all the conveniences of civilization, +and everything else that can be desired. His first jew-fish or black +sea-bass weighed 342½ pounds, and a dozen other varieties are gamy and +plentiful; fine sport with the rifle in the upland region, wealth of +verdure along the trail; below, good hotel, beaches, bathing, evening +concerts--"the true land of sweet idleness, where one can drift around +with all nature to entertain." To be strictly truthful, I must add that +the hotel was built just over an old Indian burying-ground, therefore +cases of typhoid fever are not unknown. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +PASADENA. + + + "If there be an Elysium upon earth, + It is this, it is this." + +For my own taste, I prefer Pasadena, the "Crown of the Valley"--nine +miles from Los Angeles, but eight hundred feet higher and with much +drier air, at the foot of the Sierra Madre range, in the beauteous San +Gabriel Valley. Yes, Pasadena seems to me as near Eden as can be found +by mortal man. + +Columbus in a letter to Ferdinand and Isabella said, "I believe that if +I should pass under the equator in arriving at this higher region of +which I speak, I should find there a milder temperature and a diversity +in the stars and in the waters.... I am convinced that there is the +Terrestrial Paradise." + +Poor persecuted Columbus! I wish he could have once seen Pasadena, the +very spot he dreamed of. Can I now write calmly, critically, judicially +of what I see, enjoy, admire and wonder over? If I succeed it will be +what no one else has done. I was here last year and gave my impressions +then, which are only strengthened by a second visit, so that I will +quote my own words, which read like the veriest gush, but are absolutely +true, came straight from my heart, and, after all, didn't half tell the +story. + +I am fascinated and enthralled by your sun-kissed, rose-embowered, +semi-tropical summer-land of Hellenic sky and hills of Hymettus, with +its paradoxical antitheses: of flowers and flannels; strawberries and +sealskin sacks; open fires with open windows; snow-capped mountains and +orange blossoms; winter looking down upon summer--a topsy-turvy land, +where you dig for your wood and climb for your coal; where water-pipes +are laid above ground, with no fear of Jack Frost, and your principal +rivers flow bottom side up and invisible most of the time; where the +boys climb up hill on burros and slide down hills on wheels; where the +trees are green all the year, and you go outdoors in December to get +warm; where squirrels live in the ground with owls for chums, while rats +build in the trees, and where water runs up hill; where anything +unpleasant, from a seismic disturbance to mosquitoes in March, is +"exceptional" and surprising. A land where there are no seasons, but +where sunshine and shade are so distinctly marked that one can be easily +half baked on one side and dangerously chilled on the other. + +Then the Climate--spell it with a capital, and then try to think of an +adjective worthy to precede it. Glorious! Delicious! Incomparable! +Paradisaical!!! To a tenderfoot straight from New Hampshire, where we +have nine months of winter and three of pretty cold weather, where we +have absolutely but three months that are free from frost, this seems +like enchanted ground. + +A climate warm, with a constant refreshing coolness in its heart; cool, +with a latent vivifying warmth forever peeping out of its coat-tail +pocket. + +June does not define it, nor September. It has no synonym, for there is +nothing like it. I am glad that I have lived to see hedges of +heliotrope, of geraniums and calla-lilies. I remember, in contrast, +solitary calla plants that I have nursed with care all winter in hopes +of one blossom for Easter. And I do not feel sure that I can ever tear +myself away. I am reminded of good old Dr. Watts, who was invited by +Lady Abney to pass a fortnight at her home, and remained for forty +years. + +Here we all unconsciously eat the lotus in some occult fashion, are +straightway bewitched and held willing captives. I have looked up the +lotus, about which so much is said or sung and so little definitely +known, and find it is a prickly shrub of Africa, bearing a fruit of a +sweet taste, and the early Greeks knew all about its power. Homer in the +Odyssey says that whoever ate of the fruit wished never to depart nor +again to see his native land. Many of Ulysses' sailors ate this fruit, +and lost all desire for home. + +The last letter received by me from New Hampshire, April 3d, begins in +this way: "It is like the middle of winter here, good sleighing and +still very cold." And then comes a sad series of announcements of +sickness and deaths caused by the protracted rigors of the season. And +here, at the same date, all the glories of the spring, which far exceeds +our summer--Spanish breezes, Italian sky and sunsets, Alpine mountains, +tropical luxuriance of vegetation, a nearly uniform climate, a big +outdoor conservatory. There is no other place on earth that combines so +much in the same limits. You can snowball your companions on Christmas +morning on the mountain-top, pelt your lady friends with rose leaves in +the foot-hills three hours later, and in another sixty minutes dip in +the surf no cooler than Newport in July; and the theatre in the evening. +As a bright workman said, you can freeze through and thaw out in one +day. + +An electric railroad will soon connect Los Angeles with Pasadena and +Mount Wilson, and a fine hotel is to be placed on the top of Echo +Mountain, 3500 feet high, and this will then certainly be the ideal +health and pleasure resort of the world. + +Pasadena's homes, protected on three sides by mountain ranges, are +surrounded by groves and gardens, trees and hedges from every clime. +Everything will grow and flourish here. Capitalists from the East seem +engaged in a generous rivalry to create the ideal paradise. Passion +vines completely cover the arbors, roses clamber to the tops of houses +and blossom by tens of thousands. I notice displays fit for a floral +show in the windows of butcher shops and shoe stores. The churches are +adorned with a mantle of vines and flowers. + +Are there no "outs," no defects in this Pasadena? One must not forget +the rainy days, the occasional "hot spells" of August and September, a +wind now and then that blows off steeples and tears down fragile +structures, bringing along a good deal more sand than is wanted. And +every year an earthquake may be expected. I have experienced two, and +they are not agreeable. + +Aside from these drawbacks and dust in summer, all else is perfection, +except that the weather is so uniformly glorious that there is seldom a +day when one is willing to stay at home. I feel just now like a +"deestrick" schoolboy who has been "kept in" on a summer afternoon. + +The wild-flowers are more fascinating to me than all those so profusely +cultivated. I weary of five thousand calla-lilies in one church at +Easter, and lose a little interest in roses when they bloom perennially +and in such profusion that I have had enough given me in one morning to +fill a wash-tub or clothes-basket! + +The wealth of color on the hills and mesas in springtime can never be +described or painted. The State flower, the yellow poppy with the name +that would floor any spelling-match hero--the eschscholtzia--is most +conspicuous, and can be seen far away at sea; but there are dozens of +others, that it is better to admire and leave unplucked, as they wilt so +soon. "The ground is literally dolly-vardened with buttercups, violets, +dodecatheons, gilias, nemophilas, and the like. And yet these are the +mere skirmish line of the mighty invading hosts, whose uniforms surpass +the kingly robes of Solomon, and whose banners of crimson and yellow and +purple will soon wave on every hilltop and in every valley. + +"In April and May the lover of nature may pass into the seventh heaven +of botanical delight. Then in favored sections the display reaches a +gorgeousness and a profusion that surpass both description and +imagination." + +No one can paint the grain fields as they look when the sun puts into +every blade a tiny golden ray and it is no longer every-day common +grain, but an enchanted carpet of living, radiant, golden green. We +tourists call it grass, but there is no grass to be proud of in +California. + +No one can paint the sky; no one would accept it as true to nature if +once caught on the canvas. + +I will not attempt to describe the mountains with their many charms. I +listened to a lecture lately where a man was struggling to do this, and +it was positively painful. The flowery verbiage, the accumulated +adjectives, the poetical quotations were overpowering. I seemed actually +sinking into luscious mellifluousness. I shook it off my fingers, as if +it were maple syrup. Then, as he climbed higher and higher, on and up, +never getting away from the richest verdure and the sweetest flowers, +scenes for an artist to paint with rapture, and a poet to sing in +ecstasy, I found myself pushing up my forehead to improvise a mansard +roof for my brain to swell in sympathy. And when he reached the summit +and the panorama burst upon his enraptured vision, it was too much for +my strained emotions, and I quietly slipped out. + +And the strangest part is that every word is true, and, say what one +will, one never gets near the reality. In this respect, you see, it +differs from a floral catalogue sent out in early spring, or a hotel +pamphlet with illustrations. + +The cable road is 3000 feet long, with a direct ascent of 1400 feet, and +the Echo Mountain House will be 1500 feet higher than the Catskill +hotels overlooking the Hudson, and it is estimated that not less than +60,000 fares will be collected upon this mountain railroad the first +year. + +All this was designed and executed by Professor Lowe, of aeronaut fame, +a scientist and banker, the inventor of water-gas and artificial ice, +and a man of great business ability. + +One of the best proofs of the health-giving power of this air is the +fact that the physicians practising here, with one exception, came +seriously ill and have not only recovered, but are strong enough to keep +very busy helping others. + +Pasadena has no ragged shabby outskirts; the poorer classes seem to be +able to own or rent pretty little homes, some like large birdcages, all +well kept and attractive. Some gentlemen from Indianapolis came here in +1873 and started the town, planting their orange orchards under the +shadows of the mountains. + +Each portion has its own attractions. Orange Grove Avenue, a street over +a mile long, is described by its name. Great trees stand in the centre +of the street, a fine road on either side, and the homes are embowered +in flowers and palms, while hedges are made of the pomegranate, the +honeysuckle, and even the heliotrope. Marengo Avenue is lined on either +side by splendid specimens of the pepper, the prettiest and most +graceful of all trees here. Colorado Street, with its homes and shops +and churches, leads out to the foot-hills and "Altadena," which is often +spoken of as recalling the handsome residences along the Riviera. + +The street cars which go from the station toward the mountains bear on +each the words, "This Car for the Poppy Fields," and they are a sight +worth seeing. Mrs. Kellog describes this flower more perfectly than any +artist could paint it: "Think of finest gold, of clearest lemon, of +deepest orange on silkiest texture, just bedewed with a frost-like +sheen, a silvery film, and you have a faint impression of what an +eschscholtzia is. Multiply this impression by acres of waving color." +And in February this may sometimes be seen. It has been well chosen for +the State flower. + +If consumptives must go away from the comforts of home, this is a haven +of rest for them. In a late _Medical Record_ I see that a physician +deprecates the custom of sending hopeless cases to the high altitudes of +Colorado, where the poor victim gasps out a few weeks or months of +existence. "If such cases as the above must be sent from home, as we +sometimes think here, to rid their home physicians of the annoyance of +their presence, they should be sent to Florida or Southern California, +where at least they may be chloroformed off into eternity by a soothing +climate, and not suffer an actual shortening of their days from a +climate acting on a radically different principle and entirely unsuited +to them." + +This is a bit of the shady side after all the sunlight. It is a place +for the invalid to rejoice in, and those in robust health can find +enough to do to employ all their energies. + +The "Tournament of Roses" last winter was a grand success, praised by +all. The "Pageant of Roses" was celebrated here lately, and I cannot +give you a better idea of it than by copying the synopsis. + +Imagine the opera-house trimmed inside with wreaths and festoons and +bouquets of roses--a picture in itself; audience in full evening dress, +each lady carrying roses, each man with a rose for a boutonnière. + +The dancing in costume was exquisitely graceful, and the evolutions and +figures admirably exact--no mistake, nothing amateurish about the whole +performance. + + PART FIRST. + + Los Flores, a garden in the Crown of the Valley. Goddess Flora and + her pages asleep. Harlequin, the magic spirit, enters, produces by + incantation the rain and summons the maiden Spring, who rouses the + Goddess and her pages. The Goddess commands the Harlequin to usher + in the Pageant of Roses. Enter the Red or Colonial Roses; march and + form for the reception and dance of the Ladies of the Minuet. + Retire. Harlequin, at the request of the Goddess, summons the Gold + of Ophirs, bearing urn as offering to the Goddess, when is + performed the dance of the Orient, including solo. Curtain falls on + tableau. + + PART SECOND. + + Same garden. Goddess on her throne, surrounded by her pages. She + summons the Harlequin, who in turn brings the Roses of Castile. + They bring offering of flowers to the Goddess, and perform a dance. + + + Goddess again summons Harlequin, who, by great effort, brings the + Roses of the Snow, or the Little Girls from Boston, led by Frost + Maiden. They perform a dance and retire. Both Harlequins enter, + perform a dance, and command the blooming of the Pink Rose Buds. + Pink Rose Buds enter without offering for the Goddess, and prevail + upon the Harlequins to help them out of their difficulties. The + Harlequins send Poppies for the great La France Rose Buds as an + offering, and perform "The Transformation of the Rose." Rose Buds + dance and are joined by the little Roses in the Snow. All dance and + retire. Enter White Harlequin, who calls for the White Rose dance + by the Greek maidens. They perform ceremonies and deck the altar of + their Goddess, dance and retire. Curtain. + + PART THIRD. + + Grand march. Tableau, with falling Rose petals, in the magic cañon. + +And not a word yet of The Raymond, that popular house set upon a hill +that commands a view hard to equal. The house is always filled to +overflowing, and this year General Wentworth tells me the business has +been better than ever. This famous resort is in East Pasadena, and has +its own station. It is always closed in April, just at the time when +there is the most to see and enjoy, and the flowers are left to bloom +unseen. + +The other fine hotel here, named for its owner, Colonel Green of +"August Flower" fame, is on ground eight feet higher, although by the +conformation of the land it does not look so. + +Many prefer to be in the town and nearer the mountains, and this house +proving insufficient for its patrons, an addition four times the size of +the present building is being added in semi-Moorish architecture, at a +cost of $300,000. + +That item shows what an experienced man of business thinks about the +future of Pasadena. + +The town is full of pleasant boarding-houses, as Mrs. Dexter's, Mrs. +Bangs's, and Mrs. Roberts's, and many enjoy having rooms at one house +and taking meals at another. You can spend as much or as little as you +choose. At Mrs. Snyder's I found simple but delicious old-fashioned +home-cooking at most reasonable rates. + +And still more? Yes, the Public Library must be mentioned, the valuable +collections I was permitted to see, the old mission of San Gabriel +three miles away, and then I shall give the next chapter to my brother, +who spent a week on Mt. Wilson, and came down wonderfully benefited even +by that short stay. One invalid he met there had gained four pounds in +as many days. His ambition now is to open a law office up among the +clouds and transact business by telephone, saying the fact that his +clients could not see him would be no disadvantage. + +While he is discoursing I will be studying the history of the Indian +baskets and report later. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +CAMPING ON MOUNT WILSON. + + + "On every height there lies repose." + +At Pasadena the mountain wall which guards the California of the South +stands very near and looks down with pride upon the blooming garden +below. The mountains which belong especially to Pasadena are but three +miles away. Their average height exceeds slightly that of the Mt. +Washington range in New Hampshire. The Sierra Madre system, of which +they form a part, contains some peaks considerably higher. + +Farther to the East, "Old Baldy"--Mt. San Antonio--raises its snowy +summit to a height just close enough to ten thousand feet to test the +veracity of its admirers. It is about ten miles from Pasadena by the +eyes, but would be twenty by the feet, if they could walk an air line. + +To the south and east of "Old Baldy" is Mt. San Jacinto, 12,000 feet +above the Pacific, upon which it looks, in the far distance. + +The majestic mountain wall, almost bending over the homes of Pasadena, +with their vines and fig trees, their roses and lilies, their orchards +of orange and lemon, and the distant snow-clad peaks glittering in the +gentle sunshine, combine to form a perfect picture. There are detailed +descriptions from the pens of those who feel an unctuous joy in painting +the lily, kalsomining the calla, and adding perfumes to the violet, the +rose, and the orange. + +The "Pasadena Alps" are so smeared with oleaginous gush that I had +conceived against them a sort of antipathy, which was not diminished by +their barren, treeless appearance. + +As Nature reasserted herself, this artificial nausea wore away. I took a +drive to Millard's Cañon, and was surprised at finding a charming wooded +road winding up through the cañon along a mountain stream. From the end +of the carriage-road we walked half a mile to a picturesque waterfall +having a sheer descent of perhaps forty feet. + +This revelation inspired a drive to Eaton's Cañon, where I found similar +attractions, and which led me to the new Mt. Wilson trail, or "Toll +Road." I made inquiries, inspected the small but substantial mules which +do the pedestrian part of the trip, went up the trail a short distance, +and, after many assurances, arranged to make the ascent. + +In fact, this trail is remarkably well built. It winds up the mountain +by a gradual and even ascent of nine miles, the grade nowhere exceeding +ten per cent. There are two camps near the summit, open all the year. +You may return the same day or stay for the remainder of your life. + +Take little luggage, of course: a heavy overcoat or wrap, and a small +grip. In the winter the nights are cold, and clouds and rain are not +unlikely to present the compliments of the season. + +The mountains of California are as topsy-turvy as its rivers. We used +to learn in our physical geographies that as the traveller ascends a +mountain the large trees continually give place to smaller--shrinking at +last to stunted shrubs, with a summit of barren rock. + +As our mules plod up Mt. Wilson, the trail at first is sandy, and the +mountain's flanks a barren waste, with thin covering of cactus and +chaparral. Half a mile from the starting-point appear small bushes, +which grow larger as we move upward. The trail turns into a cañon, and +becomes a hard, cool pathway leading up through small live-oaks and high +growth of bushes. We begin to see slender pines and larger oaks. Now the +trail leaves the cañon and winds out upon the open mountain-side. Here +the chaparral is green and flourishing. + +We wind abruptly into a cañon. Bushes of wild lilac overhang the path. +The manzanita reminds one of lilies of the valley transplanted to +California and growing on a bush. Down to the torrent at the bottom of +the cañon, and up its steep side, are large pines and live-oaks, +mountain mahogany and cedar. Near the summit we wind along a precipice +where the trail is blasted from the solid rock. Even here, any one who +is disposed to "look aloft" will see pine trees hanging over his head +hundreds of feet above. + +The summit is a forest of towering trees. On the topmost ridges are the +monarchs of the mountains--oaks three and four feet, and pines four and +five feet in diameter. Of course this increase in the size of timber is +noticeably uniform, only where the soil and natural features of the +mountains favor it. But the summit of Mt. Wilson, at least, resembles a +picnic ground raised nearly six thousand feet above the sea. The air is +light, dry, and exhilarating. The ground is carpeted with pine needles. +Delicate wild-flowers are seen in their season. In April I found wild +peas in blossom, harebells, morning-glories, poppies, and many varieties +of yellow flowers. I also saw hummingbirds, butterflies, swallows, and +squirrels, and here and there patches of plain white old-fashioned snow. +It is a novel spectacle to see a small boy snowballing a butterfly. In +the spring even dead trees are glorified with a mantle of golden green +moss. It covers the trunks of some of the living pines, making an +artistic background for the deep green of their boughs. + +From this upside-down mountain we look down upon rivers flowing bottom +side up. And that is California. + +As to the safety of the ascent, no one need hesitate who is free from +settled prejudice against a side-hill. You will soon let the reins hang +from the pommel of the saddle. One who chooses may jump off and walk for +a change. Only, if you are at the end of the procession, be careful to +keep between your mule and the foot of the mountain; otherwise he will +wheel around and wend his way homeward. If toiling along near the +summit, absorbed in the beauties of the prospect, it might be awkward to +feel the halter jerked from your hand and to see the mule galloping +around a sharp bend with your satchel, hung loosely over the pommel, +bobbing violently up and down, and perhaps hurled off into space as the +intelligent animal rounds the corner. + +Yes, it is safe, but there is a spice of excitement about it. I was +nervous at first, and seeing that the mule wished to nibble such herbage +as offered itself, I had thought it well to humor him. At a narrow space +with sharp declivity below, the beast fixed his jaws upon a small tough +bush on the upper bank. As he warmed up to the work, his hind feet +worked around toward the edge of the chasm. The bush began to come out +by the roots, which seemed to be without end. As the weight of the mule +was thrown heavily backward, I looked forward with some apprehension to +the time when the root should finally give way: I saw now that the mule +had fixed his stubborn jaws upon the entrails of the mountain, and +expected every instant to see other vital organs brought to light. I +dared not and could not move. The root gave way, allowing the mule to +fall backward, and startling him with a rattling down of stones and +gravel. One foot slipped over the edge, but three stuck to the path, and +the majority prevailed. After that I saw it was safer to let my faithful +beast graze on the outer edge. All went well until he became absorbed in +following downward the foliage of a bush which grew up from below. As +he stretched his neck farther and farther down, I saw that he was +bending his forelegs. His shoulders sank more and more. There was +nothing between me and the sea-level except the mule's ears. By frantic +exertions I worked myself backward, and was sliding down behind--too +late. The bush broke, causing the mule to fall back forcibly against the +inner bank, with myself sandwiched between the adamantine wall of the +mountain and the well-shod heels of the mule. The animal, being as much +scared as myself, started up the trail at a gallop. I had saved my life +but lost my mule. I have no taste for overtaking runaway mules on a +steep and interminable up-grade. It is a taste which must be acquired. +But then, of course, the mule would turn after his first alarm and tear +down to the stable. I resolved to push on in the hope of finding a wider +portion of the path, or at least of meeting the animal before he had +acquired uncontrollable momentum. + +At the very first turn a boy appeared hurrying back with my palfry. The +mule had galloped on until he overtook the rest of the party, who had +sent him back in haste, while they followed on as quickly as possible. + +It flashed upon my mind that the mule understands his business. We +imagine, egotistically, that the mule is all the time thinking about us, +and that he may take umbrage at some fancied slight and leap with us +down the abyss. Now the mule does not care to make the descent in that +way. He is thinking about himself just like the rest of us. We are only +so much freight packed upon his back. + +The foregoing narrative may be exaggerated in some details, but the +essential facts remain, that the mule has a healthy appetite and that he +looks out for himself. + +A little further on I had an opportunity to judge how a passenger would +conduct himself if he should be thrown from the trail. At the point +where the slope of the mountains is most abrupt, certain repairs had +lately been made upon the trail, and a man was now prying large stones +over the edge. They rolled and tumbled down, taking wild leaps into the +air and plunging from rock to rock. After they disappeared in the woods +we could hear them crashing and clattering down the cañon. A small +avalanche of broken fragments followed in their wake. + +It must have been a fine sight when the blasting was first done in the +side of the rocky precipice: when huge masses of rock, half as big as a +house, were rent from the side of the mountain and thundered down with +frightful crash, cutting off huge trees and shaking the very mountains. +And now I will say again that the trail is wide and safe; the slopes on +the side are seldom very steep, and the mules could not be pushed over +by any available power. + +Some people, in fact, prefer the old trail because it is more wild and +romantic and not so well kept. The new road has enough picturesque +features to satisfy me. + +I remember when the valley came in sight again, after half an hour's +climbing, the first objects to catch my eye were the storage reservoirs, +which dot the valley and are used in irrigation. Their regular shapes +and the margins of masonry about them give them, from the mountains, +the appearance of mirrors. One seemed almost directly below. Probably it +was at least a hundred feet in length. In the form of a rectangle with +rounded corners, it was the exact counterpart of a framed mirror. The +surface was like polished glass, and trees upon the bank were reflected +with beautiful distinctness. + +After another half-hour's ride comes a glimpse in the other direction. +Through a gap in the mountains we look for a moment behind the hills of +Pasadena into the heart of the Sierra Madre. Vistas of mountain-sides +are seen on either hand, one beyond the other, the long slope of one +slightly overlapping that of its nearer neighbor, offering for our +inspection a succession of blue tints, becoming more and more delicate +in the distance till they melt into the sky. + +The mules care less for visible azure than for edible verdure, and soon +carried us by this picture. Far up the trail is a pretty scene upon our +own mountain. Suddenly we came out of the cool, wild forest upon a +little level spot, by the spring of the mountain stream. Here is an old +camp with green grass growing up about the deserted building. After a +final winding journey around the steep southerly side of the mountain, +came the first full view of the wild chaos of broken ranges toward the +desert. Then follows a gradual shaded ascent to the camp. The world has +varied panoramas of mountain scenery "set off" by the glitter of snowy +peaks. In California there are many accessible summits rising from +half-tropical valleys. Mountains which overlook the sea are without +number. There may be in America other points from which one may look +down upon a "city of homes," and a "business centre" with sixty thousand +busy inhabitants. I do not know any spot apart from the mountains of +Pasadena where you may put all of these in combination. From the +northerly peak of Mt. Wilson to the southerly peak of Mt. Harvard is a +distance by trail along the ridge of perhaps three miles, offering a +variety of points of view. To the north and east you may look down into +a gorge two thousand feet beneath, from which rises on the gentle breeze +the mingled voice of brawling brook and murmuring pines. Beyond is a +confusion of green mountains, from which a range of white summits rises +in the calm distance. Toward the south are solitary peaks with halos of +fleecy cloud. + +As for the prospect in the other direction, it shows at once that the +way to print upon the mind a map of California's physical formation is +to see it _a la_ bird's-eye--as the short path to acquaintance with a +great city is a vertical one--to the tower of the City Hall. + +One would require but a few more well-selected stations to map out all +of Southern California. + +The several valleys of which Los Angeles is the commercial capital are +stretched out before us like perfectly level plains, divided by ranges +of hills. In the distance lies the glistening Pacific, with the blue +outlines of Catalina and more distant islands etched upon the western +sky. This picture is sometimes so distinct that you find yourself +trying to recognize acquaintances on the streets of Pasadena. Again +everything is dreamy with haze. Another morning you may stumble out +trying to rub yesterday's sunburn from your eyes, and find everything +below curtained by a bank of snowy fog. As for myself, I enjoy the +prospect most when I cannot see it at all--that is, at night. + +There is a varied interchange of signals between the mountains and the +valley. At noon the people here talk with their Pasadena friends by +gleaming flashlight. Then there are the reservoirs scattered over the +valley. In certain lights they are not seen at all, but in line with the +sun they send up great flash signals themselves, and just after sunset +they are always seen reflecting the calm twilight. An hour after sunset +our camp-fire is lighted. As we stand by it, the horizon seems to have +retired for the night. There is continuous sky, shading without a break +into the shadows below. Gazing dreamily down, I am startled by the +flashing forth of a hundred brilliant stars from what was the valley +below. They disappear for a moment and then blaze out and become a +permanent constellation. These stars are too numerous to resemble any +known constellation. I concluded after a little that the mighty Orion +had drawn his sword and slain the Great Bear; that the lion had rashly +interfered and his carcass had been dragged to that of the bear, and +that the exhausted Orion had thrown himself wearily upon them to rest. +And there are the Pleiades close by; with feminine curiosity they have +come as near as they dared, to see what it is all about. + +Those wishing a scientific explanation of these phenomena must consult +the Pasadena Electric Lighting Company, except as to the stray Pleiades, +which seem to have some connection with the lights of the Raymond Hotel. + +But what is that dim and curious meteor slowly moving toward the spot +where Los Angeles used to be? Perhaps it is the headlight which heralds +the coming of the belated overland train. Suddenly I see out of the +darkness beyond Pasadena the blazing forth of a majestic cross, of +wavering, uneven outline, but made up of crowded multitudes of +sparkling, glittering, scintillating stars. Los Angeles has +substantially the same system of street illumination as Pasadena. + +You will note that I have abstained from hauling the sun above the +eastern Sierras in the morning, and from tucking it under the Pacific at +night. This rearrangement of ponderous constellations is all that my +strength and my other engagements will permit. Those who want to know +the glories of the sunset and moonlight must climb Mt. Wilson +themselves. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +CATCHING UP ON THE KITE-SHAPED TRACK. + + +Not the kite-shaped track of new-made trotting records and pneumatic +tires, but a track upon which you may pass a pleasant day riding after +the iron horse. + +The route extends easterly from Los Angeles to San Bernardino _via_ +Pasadena. Beyond San Bernardino is the "loop," which will take us twelve +miles farther east to Mentone, and around an oval curve back to San +Bernardino. Thence we kite down to Riverside, then southwesterly to +Orange, and so up to Los Angeles. Leaving Los Angeles at 9 A.M. you may +return by 4 P.M., with time for dinner at San Bernardino. + +Taking the traveller back and forth across the central part of Southern +California as it does, the kite-shaped trip is naturally a favorite +with tourists, and, as its "catchy" name indicates, it caters to that +element of travel. One always sees also anxious and eager "prospectors" +or expectant settlers, who lose no opportunity to inquire all about +citrus and deciduous fruits, and prices of land and of water for +irrigating the same. This excursion will show you the heart of the +orange belt or belts of Southern California, especially on the northern +and eastern sides of the "kite." + +The schedule of trains allows of convenient stop-overs, and several may +be made to advantage. + +Pasadena and Riverside of course must not be passed by. A short stay at +Orange or Anaheim gives an interesting glimpse of a region where orange +culture is combined with that of other citrus fruits, as well as the +grape and olive. + +Aside from these points, the most interesting feature of the trip is the +"loop" beyond San Bernardino. The town of San Bernardino is a thriving +business centre. Perhaps it is on this account that its appearance from +the car window is not as attractive as that of Riverside or Pasadena, +which from all points of view seem peacefully embowered in half-tropic +foliage. But away from the railroads San Bernardino also has its +charming residence district, with the same general characteristics as +its sister towns. + +Upon the "loop" a stop should be made at Redlands, an interesting spot, +where the successful culture of oranges is carried on at a much higher +elevation than was thought possible until a few years ago. There is +never any frost there to injure the fruit. The Hotel Terracina, on the +heights, has a wondrous view, and the Smiley brothers, of "Lake Mohunk" +celebrity, have fine grounds and homes on Cañon Crest, and are thinking +of building a hotel. + +The circuit of the "loop" reminds me of roving around upon the rim of a +very large and shallow spoon, tilted upward toward Mentone at the +smaller end. San Bernardino is 1075 feet above the sea, and Mentone 1640 +feet. At that point we have nearly climbed the foothills, and are very +close to the great mountains themselves. As we skim around upon the +upper side of the "loop," the long gradual slope from the foot of the +mountains to the stream at the centre of the valley seems an ideal +conformation for leading the irrigation streams from the mountains along +the rows of orange trees which will soon entirely cover this valley. + +Four miles from San Bernardino is the station of Arrowhead, from which +we have a near view of the peak of nature which gives the place its +name. It is a bare, gravelly tract on the side of the mountain, which, +in contrast with the chaparral about it, takes the shape of an Indian +arrowhead with a portion of the shaft attached. Covering a large area, +the arrowhead is a landmark for many miles around. I could not help +thinking that if a gang of Italian laborers were employed for a few days +sharpening the outline of the arrowhead by cutting away bushes along the +edge, and setting out others judiciously in the converted background, +the effect of this interesting natural phenomenon might be much +brightened. There are hot-springs at Arrowhead, and a hotel renders the +varied attractions of the place available. + +While we are kiting along let me tell you what I know about baskets +made by the Indian women of the Pacific Coast of now and long ago, the +last considered valuable and now commanding high prices. There are +several experts on this subject in Pasadena--Mrs. Lowe, ex-Mayor Lukens, +Mrs. Jeanne C. Carr, and Mrs. Belle Jewett, who has the most precious +collection of all. + +Mrs. Lowe has gathered together for her Basement Museum, which any State +would be proud to own, all that she could find of special interest +relative to the Indians of California--clothing, headdress, weapons, +medicine charms, money, beads, and of course many baskets, for baskets +are as indispensable to the Indian as the reindeer to the Esquimau. They +were used as cradles, caps for the head when carrying burdens, wardrobes +for garments not in use, granaries on roof, sifters for pounded meal, +for carrying water, and keeping it for use, for cooking, receptacles for +money, plaques to gamble on, and so on. And the basket plays an +important part in their legends and folk-lore. + +Mrs. Lowe determined to preserve these specimens, as tourists were +rapidly carrying away all they could find of such relics, and soon the +State would be without proofs to tell how the Indian of the past lived +and fed and fought, bought and sold, how he was dressed, and how he +amused himself. + +Mrs. Ellen B. Farr, an artist in Pasadena who is famous for her success +in painting the pepper tree and the big yellow poppy, with its reddish +orange line changing toward petal tips to pale lemon, has also devoted +her skill to pictures of such baskets grouped effectually--baskets now +scattered all over the world, each with its own history, its own +individuality, and no duplicate, for no two baskets are ever exactly +similar. + +The true way to obtain these baskets is, go a-hunting for them, not buy +them at stores. They are handed down for generations as heirlooms +originally, never intended for sale, and with the needles used in +weaving, made usually of a fine bone from a hawk's wing, and the +gambling dice, are the carefully concealed family treasures. But +sometimes by going yourself to see the aged squaws, or paying one who +is familiar with their ways to explore for you, you may get a rich +return. Baskets are of all sizes, from the little beauties no bigger +than a teacup, woven finely and adorned with beads and bits of dyed +feathers, to the granaries, or the storage baskets, holding half a ton, +nine feet and nine inches in circumference, three feet deep. Mrs. Jewett +showed me a photograph of one of this sort, in which she sat comfortably +seated with her six-foot son and his wife. This had been in use more +than fifty years, and was as fine as ever. Her one hundred and +twenty-eight baskets represent twenty-eight tribes. In regard to the +shapes and designs, the women seem to have copied straight from nature's +patterns, as seen in acorns, pine cones, seed vessels, etc., so they are +truly artists. + +Figures of men are sometimes woven in: those with heads on represent the +victorious warriors; those decapitated depict the braves vanquished by +the fighters of their special tribe. An open palm is sometimes seen; +this is an emblem of peace. + +Willow wands and stiff long-stemmed grasses are gathered and dried for +these baskets, then woven in coils and increased as they go on, as in a +crochet stitch. It often requires a deal of coaxing and good pay to +secure one of these highly prized "Coras." + +The women were as devoted to gambling as the men, and made flat trays +for this purpose. The dice were eight acorn shells, or half-walnut +shells, first daubed over inside with pitch, and then inlaid with little +shells which represented money. + +I saw a tray and dice purchased most adroitly from an excited gambling +party, who were at the time too much intoxicated to know exactly what +they were doing. After it had been paid for the owner was implored to +sit down and gamble himself, hoping in this way to win more money and +get back the board. It was hard to withstand their forcible appeals, but +the man ran away, and was obliged to hide all night for fear of assault. +Squaws would sometimes bet pieces of flesh from their arms when their +money was gone, and many of them have been seen with rows of scars on +their arms for this reason. No basket can be finished by an Indian woman +until she has ceased to bear children. Then her work is done. + +The Japanese are famous basket-makers, but they do not far excel the +best work found among these untutored workwomen. + +Most curious of all is the fact that a _savant_ connected with the +Smithsonian Institute was amazed when examining a "buck," or man's +plaque, to find it almost exactly like one he had brought from northern +India--similar in weaving, size, and shading. + +And a lady told me that she could make herself understood by those of a +certain tribe in Mexico by speaking to them in Sicilian. Which makes me +think of Joel Chandler Harris and his embarrassment, after publishing +his stories of "Uncle Remus," to receive letters from learned men at +home and abroad, inquiring how this legend that he had given was the +same as one in India, or Egypt, or Siam. + +The art of basketry is rapidly deteriorating, and will soon be lost +unless Indian children in the reservation are taught something of the +old skill by their grandmothers, before the few now living depart for +that happy, unmolested hunting-ground they like to believe in, where I +do hope they will find a land all their own. + +The Mexican drawn-work is seen everywhere for sale, and at moderate +prices--so moderate that any one is foolish to waste eyesight in +imitating it. Each stitch has a name, and is full of meaning to the +patient maker. + +One can easily spend a good deal for curios, such as plaques, cups, +vases, napkin-rings, plates and toothpicks of orange wood, bark +pin-cushions, cat's-eye pins, etchings of all the missions in India ink, +wild-flower, fern, and moss work, and, perhaps most popular of all, the +pictures on orange wood of the burro, the poppy, and pepper and oranges. +Or, if interested in natural history, you can secure a horned toad, a +centipede, or a tarantula, alive or dead, and "set up." + +A horned toad is more easy to care for than the average baby alligator +of Florida, and as a pet is not more exacting, as it can live six months +without eating. + +"Why do some women like horrible things for pets? + +"Mother Eve set the example, and ever since serpents have been in the +front rank of woman's eccentric loves. Cleopatra was fond of tigers and +ferocious beasts, but she turned at last to a snake as the most fitting +creature to do her bidding. + +"Centuries ago the queens of Egypt made pets of horned toads, and the +ugly little reptiles became things of state, and their lives more sacred +than the highest ministers to the court. Daughters of the Nile +worshipped crocodiles." + +A very intelligent man, who has every reason to speak with authority +about the tarantula as found in California, declares that it is not +dangerous. He says they live in ground that has not been disturbed by +the plough. Their hole in the ground is about three fourths of an inch +in diameter and twelve or fourteen inches deep, with only a web over the +top. Many tell us that the tarantula has a lid on the top of his house, +but this is incorrect, as that belongs to the trap-door spider. It is +sold, however, here as a tarantula's nest. This creature dislikes the +winter rains as much as the tourist does, and fills up the entrance of +the nest in October and November, not appearing until May. The greater +number are found on adobe and clay soil. Tarantulas never come out at +night; the male sometimes appears just before sundown, but the female is +seldom seen away from home unless disturbed. They seem to have a model +family life. Mr. Wakely, who has caught more of these spiders than any +living man, does not seem to dread the job in the least. One man goes +ahead and places a small red flag at the opening of the nest; the next +man pours down a little water, which brings Mr. T---- up to see what is +the matter, and then Mr. W---- quietly secures it with a pair of pincers +and puts it in a bottle, and has thus succeeded in catching hundreds, +but has never had a bite. (This last line reminds me of the amateur +angler.) He tells me that there seems to be a general impression that a +tarantula will jump into the second-story window of a house, and, +springing upon the neck of a young lady sitting there, will kill her +instantly. He has never seen one jump three inches. If one leg is broken +off nature soon provides another. The Texas variety is believed to be +more dangerous. I do not know. + +There are rattlesnakes to be seen and heard about the mountains in hot +weather. + +As to buying precious stones, especially opals, in this part of the +country, I think it is wisest to buy opals in the real old Mexico for +yourselves, often very cheaply. The prices rise rapidly here. A water +opal, however beautiful, has no commercial value. It is but an +imprisoned soap-bubble, and is apt to crumble. There are stores where +pretty colored stones can be bought, but the majority get cheated as to +price. + +But we are not paying proper attention to the "panorama." Many have been +led to settle here by taking this picturesque trip; and with plenty of +water oranges pay splendidly. So there is substantial wealth, ever on +the increase, in these new towns. + +By the way, were you ever asked to be a "panorama"? I once had that +honor. A lady came to my house one Sunday morning, and explained that +her husband was dreadfully depressed over a fall in stocks or something, +and she knew I could be "so amusing" if I chose, and wouldn't I get into +her carriage and go with her to amuse said husband, and be a sort of +panorama for the poor man? "I don't want him to be in the panorama," she +said, "nor of the panorama; I want you just to be the panorama by +yourself." I was forced to decline this singular appeal, glad as I +should have been to cheer her dumpy spouse. + +Why, oh why is it, that if persons have the slightest power of being +what is vaguely called "entertaining," they are expected to be ever on +duty at the call of any one who feels a desire for inexpensive +diversion? + +At one hotel I sat by the side of an odd old man, a retired tobacco +merchant of great wealth, who was ready for conversation with all +newcomers, and who seemed to feel that I was not doing my full share as +an entertainer for the masses. He also had the unusual habit of +speaking his thoughts aloud, whether complimentary or otherwise, in +frank soliloquy, like that absent-minded Lord Dudley whom Sydney Smith +alludes to, as meeting and greeting him with effusive cordiality, and +then saying, _sotto voce_, "I suppose I shall have to ask this man home +to dinner." + +But my friend at my elbow had very little of the _sotto_ in his _voce_. +He began in this way: + +"Ahem! I hear you can be funny." No response from person addressed. Then +to himself: "I don't much believe she can do anything--don't look like +it." To me: "Well, now, if you _can_ be funny, why don't you?" I could +not help laughing then. "Yes, if you can, you ought to go into the +parlor every night and show what you can do, and amuse us. It is your +duty. Why, I told Quilletts--you know 'bout Quilletts? awfully funny +feller; good company, you see--says I, 'Quilletts, I like you. Now, if +you'll stay I'll give you a cottage, rent free, all summer (I've got an +island home--lots of us fellers on it--great times we have); but you +must agree to be funny every night, and keep the ball a-rollin'.' Now +we want you to get up and do something to entertain the guests. We want +to be amused--somethin' that will set us laughin'!" + +I replied: "Mr. Brushwood, I understand you are a dealer in tobacco?" + +"Yes, mum; and you won't find finer tobacker anywhere in this world than +what's got my name on it. Here's a picture of my store. Why, Brushwood's +tobacker is known all over the United States." + +"Yes? Well, when I notice you freely distributing that tobacco, bunches +of your choicest brands, papers of the very best for chewing, cigarettes +by the dozen, in the parlor evenings, I'll follow on just behind you, +and try to amuse as a condensed circus. I'm not lacking in philanthropy. +I only need to be roused by your noble example, sustained by your +influence." + +Brushwood looked disgusted, grunted his disapproval, backed his chair +out from the table, and as he walked to the door of the dining-room many +heard him mutter, "She's a queer dick; don't amount to much, anyway; +thought so when I first saw her; impudent, too!" + +As the farmer remarked when he first encountered a sportsman dude, "What +things a feller does meet when he hasn't got his gun!" + +But the train is slowing up, and see, Judge Brown, my old friend of The +Anchorage, is looking for us. No! No "Glenwood"; no "Arlington"; no +"kerridge"! + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +RIVERSIDE. + + + "Knowest thou the land where the lemon trees bloom, + Where the golden orange grows in the deep thickets' gloom, + Where a wind ever soft from the blue heavens blows, + And the groves are of laurel and myrtle and rose?" + +Yes, that describes Riverside, and reads like a prophecy. If Pasadena is +a big garden with pretty homes scattered all through its shade and +flowers, then Riverside is an immense orange grove, having one city-like +street, with substantial business blocks and excellent stores, two +banks, one in the Evans block, especially fine in all its architecture +and arrangements, and the rest is devoted by the land-owners to raising +oranges and making them pay. You will see flowers enough to overwhelm a +Broadway florist, every sort of cereal, every fruit that grows, in prime +condition for the table ten months out of the twelve. Three hundred +sunny days are claimed here out of the three hundred and sixty-five. +They are once in a while bothered by a frost, but that is "unusual." +Before 1870 this was a dusty desert of decomposed granite. What has +caused the change? Scientific irrigation and plenty of it. Or, as Grant +Allen puts it, "mud." He says: "Mud is the most valuable material in the +world. It is by mud we live; without it we should die. Mud is filling up +the lakes. Mud created Egypt, and mud created Lombardy." + +Yes, one can get rich here by turning dust into mud. It is said to be +the richest town "per capita" in all California of the same size, $1100 +being the average allowance for each person. This is solemnly vouched +for by reliable citizens. And they have no destitute poor--a remarkable +record. The city and district are said to enjoy an annual income of +$1,500,000 from the fruit alone, and there is a million of unused money +in the two banks. + +Irrigation is better than rain, for the orange growers can turn on a +shower or a stream whenever and wherever needed. It requires courage +and faith to go straight into a desert with frowning mountains, big, +little, and middle-sized, all about, and not an available drop of water, +and say, "I'm going to settle right here and turn this desert into a +beautiful home, and start a prosperous, wealthy city. All that this +rocky, barren plain needs is water and careful cultivation, and I will +give it both." That was Judge Brown's decision, and the result shows his +wisdom. No one agreed with him; it was declared that colonists could not +be induced to try it. But he could not relinquish the idea. He was +charmed by the dry, balmy air, so different from Los Angeles. He saw the +smooth plain was well adapted for irrigation, and Santa Ana could be +made to furnish all the water needed. So that it is really to him we owe +the pleasure of seeing these orchards, vineyards, avenues, and homes. +Where once the coyote and jack-rabbit had full sway, land now sells at +prices from $400 to $3000 per acre. There are no fences--at least, there +is but one in all Riverside. You see everywhere fine, well-trimmed +cypress hedges with trees occasionally cut in fantastic, elaborate +designs. There are many century plants about the grounds; they blossom +in this climate after twelve years, and die after the tall homely flower +has come to maturity. The roadsides have pretty flowers planted all +along, giving a gay look, and the very weeds just now are covered with +blossoms. Irrigation is carried on most scientifically, the water coming +from a creek and the "cienaga," which I will explain later. There are +several handsome avenues shaded with peppers, and hedges twenty feet +high, through which are obtained peeps at enchanting homes; but the +celebrated drive which all tourists are expected to take is that to and +fro through Magnolia Avenue, twelve miles long. The name now seems illy +chosen, as only a few magnolia trees were originally planted at each +corner, and these have mostly died, so that the whole effect is more +eucalyptical, palmy, and pepperaneous than it is magnolious. People come +here "by chance the usual way," and buy because they see the chance to +make money. You are told pretty big stories of successes; the failures +are not alluded to. + +I saw a large and prosperous place belonging to a woman of business +ability, who came out all alone, took up a government grant, ploughed +and planted and irrigated, sent for a sister to help her, sold land at +great prices, and is now a wealthy woman. If I had not passed through +such depressing and enthusiasm-subduing experiences as an agriculturist +in the East I might be tempted here. I did look with interest at the +ostrich farms, and had visions of great profits from feathers, eggs, and +egg-shells. But it takes a small fortune to get started in that +business, as eggs are twenty dollars each, and the birds are sometimes +five hundred dollars apiece. And they are subject to rheumatism and a +dozen other diseases, and a blow from a kicking bird will kill one. I +concluded to let that dream be unrealized. Did you ever hear of the +nervous invalid who was told by his physician to buy a Barbary ostrich +and imitate him exactly for three months? It was a capital story. The +lazy dyspeptic was completely cured. As a hen woman I will remark _en +passant_ that it is hard to raise poultry in this part of California. +The climate is too exhilarating, and if the head of each chicken does +not get a drop of oil at once it dies of brain disease. + +Corn does not thrive. Mr. Brown at first put down ten acres to corn. It +looked promising, but grew all to stalk. These stalks were over twelve +feet high, but corn was of no value, so he sold the stalks for eighty +dollars, and started his oranges. + +The English are largely interested here, and have invested two or three +millions, which will pay large interest to their grandchildren. Their +long avenue is loyally named "Victoria." A thrifty Canadian crazed by +the "boom," the queerest mental epidemic or delusion that ever took hold +of sensible people, bought some stony land just under Rubidoux Mountain +for $4000. It was possibly worth $100, but in those delirious days many +did much worse. It is amazing to see what hard work and water and good +taste will do for such a place. He has blasted the rocks, made fountains +and cisterns, planted several acres of strawberries, set out hundreds +of orange trees, has a beautiful garden, two pretty cottages, and some +day he will get back his original price for a building site, for the +view is grand. + +Riverside, while leading the orange-producing section of Southern +California, is not exactly the location which would have been selected +by the original settlers had they possessed the experience of the +producers of today. The oranges do not have to be washed, as in some +other places; they are not injured by smut or scale; the groves are +faultless in size of trees, shape, and taste of fruit. One orange +presented to me weighed thirty-one ounces. But the growers, having lost +$1,000,000 by Jack Frost several years ago, are obliged now to resort to +the use of lighted tar-pots on cold nights to make a dense smudge to +keep the temperature above the danger line. One man uses petroleum in +hundred-gallon casks, one for each acre, from which two pipes run along +between the rows of trees, with half a dozen elbows twenty feet apart, +over which are flat sheet-iron pans, into which the oil spatters as it +vaporizes. An intensely hot flame keeps off the frost. This I do not +hear spoken of at Riverside; you must go to a rival for any disagreeable +information. At Pasadena their severe winds are called "Riversiders"; at +Anaheim they are "Santa Anas"; and friends write me from damp Los +Angeles to the dry air of Riverside, "How can you stay in that 'damp' +place?" The inhabitants of Riverside do not concede that Pasadena is a +place for orange growers. At Redlands, luckily above frost terrors, the +terrible losses at Riverside from that trouble are profusely narrated. +San Diego gets its share of humorous belittlement from all. You hear the +story quoted of the shrewd Chinee who went to that city to look for +business, where one hears much of future developments, but did not +settle, saying, "It has too muchee bym-bye." Friends, and especially +hotel proprietors, exclaim in disgusted astonishment, "What! going to +Riverside? Why, there's nothing there but oranges." + +I find more: fine and charming drives, scenery that differs from that +of Pasadena, "that poem of nature set to music beneath the swaying +rhythm of the pine forests of the lofty Sierra Madres," but is equally +enjoyable and admirable. + +Still, above all, and permeating every other interest, is the _orange_. +As to dampness, a physician threatened with consumption, and naturally +desirous of finding the driest air, began while at Coronado Beach a +simple but sure test for comparative degrees of "humidity" by just +hanging a woolen stocking out of his window at night. At that place it +was wet all through, quite moist at Los Angeles, very much less so at +Pasadena, dry as a bone or red herring or an old-fashioned sermon at +Riverside. Stockings will tell! (From April to September is really the +best time to visit Coronado.) I experienced a very sudden change from a +warm, delightful morning to an afternoon so penetrating by cold that I +really suffered during a drive, although encased in the heaviest of +Jaeger flannels, a woolen dress, and a heavy wrap. I thought of the +rough buffalo coat my uncle, a doctor, used to put on when called out +on a winter night in New Hampshire, and wished I was enveloped in +something like it, with a heated freestone, for feet and a hot potato +for each hand. If I can make my readers understand that these sudden +changes make flannels necessary, and that one needs to be as careful +here as in Canada as regards catching cold from night air and these +unexpected rigors, I shall feel, as the old writers used to say, "that I +have not written entirely in vain." + +In one day you can sit under the trees in a thin dress and be too warm +if the sun is at its best, and then be half frozen two hours later if +the wind is in earnest and the sun has retired. In the sun, Paradise; in +shade, protect yourself! + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +A LESSON ON THE TRAIN. + +"The Schoolmistress Abroad." + + +All through Southern California I hear words of whose meaning I have no +idea until they are explained. For instance, a friend wrote from San +Diego in February: "Do not longer delay your coming; the mesas are +already bright with wild-flowers." A mesa is a plateau, or upland, or +high plain. And then there are fifty words in common use retained from +the Spanish rule that really need a glossary. As, arroyo, a brook or +creek; and arroyo seco, a dry creek or bed of extinct river. + +Alameda, an avenue. + +Alamitos, little cotton-wood. + +Alamo, the cotton-wood; in Spain, the poplar. + +Alma, soul. + +That is all I have learned in A's. Then for B's. + +I asked at Riverside what name they had for a big, big rock that rose +right out of the plain, and was told it was a "butte." That gave a +meaning to Butte City, and was another lesson. + +Banos means baths, and barranca is a small ravine. + +Then, if we go on alphabetically, cajon, pronounced _cahone_, is a box. + +Calaveras, skull. + +Campo, plain. + +Ciénaga, a marshy place. + +Campo sancto, cemetery. + +Canyon or cañon, gulch. + +Cruz, cross. + +Colorado, red. + +Some of the Spanish words are so musical it is a pleasure to repeat them +aloud; as: + +Ensenada, bright. + +Escondido, hidden. + +Fresno means ash. + +I inquired the meaning of "Los Gatos," and was kindly informed it was +"The Gates," but it really is "The Cats." + +Goleta, the name of another town, means schooner. + +The Spanish _j_ nearly always has the sound of _h_. + +Jacinto, Hyacinth. + +José, Joseph. + +Lago is lake; pond, laguna; and for a little lake the pretty name +lagunita. "Lagunita Rancho" is the name of an immense fruit ranch in +Vacaville--and, by the way, vaca is cow. + +Madre is mother; nevada, snowy. + +San Luis Obispo is San Luis the Bishop. + +El Paso is The Pass. + +Pueblo, a town. + +Pinola is parched corn ground fine between stones, eaten with milk. + +Pinoche, chopped English walnuts cooked in brown sugar--a nice candy. + +Rancho, a farm; and rio, river. + +Everything is a ranch out here; the word in the minds of many stands +for home. A little four-year-old boy was overheard praying the other day +that when he died the Lord would take him to His ranch. + +Sacramento is the sacrament. + +Sierra, saw-toothed; an earthquake is a temblor. + +San and Santa, the masculine and feminine form of saint. + +As the men who laid out a part of New York evidently travelled with a +classical dictionary, and named the towns from that, as Rome, Syracuse, +Palmyra, Utica, so the devout Spanish explorer named the places where he +halted by the name of the saint whose name was on the church calendar +for that day. And we have San Diego (St. James), San Juan (St. John), +San Luis, San José, San Pedro, Santa Inez, Santa Maria, Santa Clara, +and, best of all, Santa Barbara, to which town we are now going. + +The Mexican dialect furnishes words which are now permanently +incorporated in our common speech; as: + +Adobe, sun-dried brick. + +Cañon, gorge. + +Tules, rush or water-weed. (Bret Harte's _Apostle of the Tules_.) + +Bonanza, originally _fair weather at sea_, now _good fortune in mining_. + +Fandango, dance of the people. + +Corral, a place to collect stock. (A farmer of the West never says +cow-pen, or barnyard, or farmyard, but corral.) + +Cascarones, egg-shells filled with finely cut gold or silver paper, or +perfumes, broken on head of young man, in friendly banter or challenge +to a dance. + +Burro, small kind of donkey. + +Broncho, wild, untamed animal. + +Sombrero, hat. + +Rebozo, scarf. + +Serape, blanket. + +Lariat, rawhide rope. + +Hacienda, estate. + +While we are rattling along there is so little to see until we reach +the ocean, that we may as well be recalling a few more facts worth +knowing. At Riverside I learned that the leaf of the orange tree was +larger when it first came out than later. It grows smaller as it +matures. And most people say that the fig tree has no blossom, the fruit +coming right out of the branch. But there is a blossom, and you have to +cut the fruit open to find it. Just split a young fig in two and notice +the perfect blossom in the centre. + +They say it takes two Eastern men to believe a Californian, but it only +takes one Eastern woman to tell true stories which do seem almost too +big for belief. One man got lost in a mustard field, and he was on +horseback too. + +I saw at San Diego a tomato vine only eight months old, which was +nineteen feet high and twenty-five feet wide, and loaded full of fruit +in January. A man picking the tomatoes on a stepladder added to the +effect. And a Gold of Ophir rose-bush at Pasadena which had 200,000 +blossoms. This is vouched for by its owner, a retired missionary, who +cannot be doubted. There are truly true pumpkins that weigh 256 pounds +and are seven feet in circumference; cucumbers seven feet long; seven +beets weighed 500 pounds; three bites to a strawberry; and the +eucalyptus shoots often grow twenty feet the first year, carrying with +them in their rapid ascension the stakes to which they were tied. All +this is true. But here are two stories which may be doubtful, just to +show what anecdotes are current in California. "A man was on top of a +California pumpkin chopping off a piece with an axe, when it dropped in. +He pulled up his ladder and put it down on the inside to look for it. +While groping about he met a man, who exclaimed, 'Hello! What are you +doing here?' 'Looking for my axe.' 'Gosh! you might as well give that +up. I lost my horse and cart in here three days ago, and haven't found +'em yet!'" + +"A farmer raised one thousand bushels of popcorn and stored it in a +barn. The barn caught fire, and the corn began to pop and filled a +ten-acre field. An old mare in a neighboring pasture had defective +eyesight, saw the corn, thought it was snow, and lay down and froze to +death." + +As to serious farming, and how it pays in this part of the State, I have +clipped several paragraphs from the papers, and will give three as +samples of the whole. I desire also to communicate the cheerful news +that there are no potato bugs to make life seem too hard to bear. + + +"RAISED ON TWENTY ACRES. + +"How much land do I need in California? is a question often asked. The +answer is readily made: as much as you can profitably and economically +work. A gentleman has made the following exhibit in the Los Angeles +Chamber of Commerce: 'Raised on twenty acres of ground, 2500 boxes of +oranges, 1500 boxes of lemons, 37,000 pounds of grapes, 2000 pounds of +pears, 35,000 pounds of apples, 15,000 pounds of berries, black and red, +1000 pounds of English walnuts. Besides nectarines, apricots, plums, +three crops of potatoes, 500 pounds of crab-apples, and one acre of +alfalfa kept for cows, and flowers of different varieties. These +oranges are worth on the trees $3500, the lemons $3000, the grapes $370, +pears $30, apples $75, berries $30, walnuts $80. The total will be +$7085, and all the products not counted. That surely is more than the +crops of a half section in Kansas or Illinois will sell for.' Every one +may not do as well, but they can approach it, and if they do, twenty +acres is quite enough." + + +"PROFITS OF BERRY CULTURE. + +"Speaking of the profits of growing strawberries in Southern California, +the Covina _Argus_ gives some interesting facts and figures. That paper +says: 'One of the growers stated to us that last year he picked and +shipped from three acres the enormous amount of fourteen tons. These +berries brought as high as fifteen cents and as low as four cents per +pound, but netted an average of about eight cents per pound, or $2240. +That would make an acre of berries produce a cash return of $746.66 2/3, +which, considering the shortness of the berry season, from four to five +months, is a pretty good income on the money invested.'" + + +"PROFIT IN ALMONDS. + +"M. Treat, an authority on almond culture, has contributed the following +to the Woodland _Mail_: 'This year from 190 California paper-shell +almond trees (five years old), covering two and five-sevenths acres, I +gathered 3502 pounds of nuts, which sold in Chicago at twenty-two cents +a pound. This is $316.82 to the acre--a little over $4 to the tree--18½ +pounds to the tree. When these same trees were four years old they +averaged about three pounds, and in eight years they will double what +they bore at five. They will at eight years bear full 40 pounds to the +tree. At twelve years they will bear fully 100 pounds to the tree +without the least exertion. This is at seventy trees to the acre, and +reckoning at twenty-two cents to the pound, $1540 per acre. Now these +are nothing but plain, bare, raw facts. + +"'Almond trees live and do well for fifty years, and in some places in +Europe when fifteen years old bear from 150 to 200 pounds per tree.'" + + +At Saugus Junction Mr. Tolfree has established one of his famous +restaurants, where I can conscientiously urge you to get out and dine. +Every course is delicious. + +Ventura County is partially devoted to the culture of Beans. I use a +capital because Beans represent Culture, or are associated with it in +one State at least, and the very meaning of the word is property, money, +from the French _biens_--goods. I wonder how many of my Boston friends +knew that! I did not until a friend showed it to me in Brewer's +phrase-book, where I also learned that beans played an important part in +the politics of the Greeks, being used in voting by ballot. I always had +a liking for beans, but I have a profound respect for them since viewing +the largest Lima Bean Ranch in the world, belonging to my friend Mr. +D. W. Thompson, of Santa Barbara. There are 2500 acres of rich land, +level as a house floor, bounded by a line of trees on one side and the +ocean on the other; 1600 acres are planted to beans, and the profits +are nearly $60,000 yearly. Thirty-six tons of beans were used this year +in planting. This could not be done in the East, but beans do not need +to be "poled" here, as, influenced by the dreamy atmosphere, they show +no desire to climb, but just lie lazily along the ground. Still, there +is a deal of work connected with the business. Dairying, building, +horseshoeing, repairing of machinery, are all done on the place. "As +soon as the spring rains are over, eleven gang ploughs, four ploughs to +a gang, each gang drawn by six horses, plough about seven acres per +day." Then the harrowing and planting in the same big way. During the +entire summer these vines grow without a drop of water, freshened daily +by the heavy sea fogs. Harvesting and threshing all done by machinery. +The steam thresher would amaze some of our overworked, land-poor +farmers. About one hundred and twenty carloads of beans are annually +shipped from this ranch, reserving the tons needed for seed. + +And all along the way fine ranches are seen, where beans are seen +growing alone, or planted between the long even rows of fruit trees. Mr. +Thompson also owns a large hog ranch. But dear me! We are now skirting +the beautiful ocean curve which leads to the "Channel City"--so near the +beach that the waves almost touch the rails and the dash of the surf +seems under the cars. See how fine a situation! The coast line taking a +sudden and most fortunate turn, the trend of mountain range and plain +land is east and west, instead of north and south. Sheltered by +mountains and mesas, and nestled in the green foot-hills, with the ocean +breeze tempered by a chain of islands, making a serene harbor, Santa +Barbara has much to make it the rival of San Diego and Pasadena. Pork +and beans must now give way to legend and romance, martyred virgin, holy +monks, untutored "neophytes," handsome Castilians, dashing Mexicans, +energetic pioneers, the old Spanish, the imported Chinese, the eastern +element now thoroughly at home, and the inevitable, ubiquitous invalid, +globe-trotter, and hotel habitué--each type or stratum as distinctly +marked as in a pousse café, or jelly cake. What a comparison! I ask +Santa Barbara's pardon, and beg not to be struck with lightning, or +destroyed by gunpowder.--"_Yes, to the Arlington._" + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +SANTA BARBARA. + + + "Saints will aid if men will call, + For the blue sky bends o'er all." + +Sweet sixteen and an "awful dad." Santa Barbara and Dioscurus. Such a +cruel story, and so varied in version that the student of sacred legend +gets decidedly puzzled. The fair-haired daughter was advised secretly by +Origen, who sent a pupil disguised as a physician to instruct her in the +Christian faith. She insisted on putting three windows instead of two +into the bathroom of the tower to which her father sent her, either to +prevent her from marrying or to imprison her until she would wed one of +the many gay young suitors. These three windows showed her belief in the +Trinity, which she could not have learned from Origen, as among +Christians he was regarded as heretical, and his followers were +Unitarians and Universalists combined, adding the cheerful theory of the +"second opportunity" and that all punishment from sin would have an end, +yet clinging to the old pagan mythology and believing that sun, moon, +stars, and the ocean all had souls--a "Neo-Platonist." + +Refusing to recant, Barbara was arraigned and condemned to death. Her +energetic paternal evidently had heard the maxim, "If you want anything +done, do it yourself." His heavy blows fell soft as feathers. She seemed +in sweet slumber. So he drew his sword, cut off her head, and was +instantly killed by lightning from Heaven. Thus ends the history of two +"Early Fathers." + +But sweet St. Barbara will never be forgotten. She is the patroness of +artillery soldiers, and protects from lightning and sudden death. In the +many pictures where she appears she carries a feather, or the martyr's +sword and palm, or a book; and the three windows are often seen. She is +the only Santa who bears the cup and wafer. + +The appreciative Spaniards honored her memory by bestowing her pretty +name on the choicest spot of the coast, a belt of land seventy miles +long and thirty-five wide, from Point Concepcion to Buena Ventura. No +one can dare to doubt this tragic tale, for Barbara's head may still be +seen preserved as a relic in the temple of All Saints at Rome. I do not +want to be too severe in my estimate of the Roman noble, Dioscurus. An +old lady who never spoke ill of any one, when called upon to say +something good of the devil, said, "We might all imitate his +persistence;" and this impulsive demon was certainly a creature who, if +he had an unpleasant duty confronting him, attended to it himself. + +The first navigator who landed on the coast of Santa Barbara, or on one +of the four islands, was Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, in 1542. He is buried +on San Miguel (pronounced _Magell_). The Indians (and the entire Indian +population at that time amounted to 22,000) were exceedingly glad to +welcome the strangers, much better behaved than those found at San +Diego, who stripped the clothing from those too ill to defend +themselves. Perhaps a reason for this superiority may be found in the +fact that these tribes were entirely naked, and had no desire for any +conventional covering. They serenaded their new friends so loudly that +sleep or rest was impossible, and offered their most delicious food and +free use of canoes. They ate seeds, fruit, fish, locusts; hunted rabbit, +hare, and deer; dried the meat of the latter on trees; placed acorns in +a sieve basket, rinsed and boiled them. As every race is unhappy without +an intoxicating drink and something to chew or smoke, they extracted a +bitter beverage from a certain seed, and used a root in place of +tobacco. + +These Channel Indians let their hair grow so long that they could make +braids and fasten them round the face with stone rings. The visitors +spoke of the "Island of the Bearded People." They had substantial brush +huts, supported by pillars bearing inscriptions supposed to allude to +their religion, and they enjoyed dancing to the music of bone flutes. +For gifts, they most desired red calico and chocolate. + +Cabrillo's men found a primitive temple on one of the islands, and in it +an unknown god or idol. One of the eight original tribes had a form of +worship strongly resembling a Turkish bath. The men sat round a hot fire +until drenched in perspiration; then plunged into a pool of cold water. +The women were not permitted to be devout in this "cleanliness next to +godliness" manner. It was a luxury and prerogative the noble braves +wanted entirely for themselves. (We see something similar in our own +progressive, enlightened churches, where women are expected to provide +and pack clothing for missionary boxes, attend unfailingly on the stated +means of grace, visit and nurse the sick and poor members, deny +themselves for charity, listen reverently to stupid discourses on the +unknown, delivered with profound certainty that approaches omniscience, +but are not allowed to "speak out in meetin'," or to have the honor of +being represented by women delegates at denominational conventions, or +clubs and councils. They are to lead heavenward, but earthly pleasures +and honors are strictly "reserved"! About the same, isn't it?) + +When Father Junipero Sena reached Santa Barbara on his mission-starting +pilgrimage, he sent for Mexican artisans, who taught his converts all +the industrial arts. They were taught to support themselves, then a +piece of ground was parcelled out to each, with a yoke of oxen and +farming utensils. Serra formed eleven missions; ten were added later. He +built the great aqueduct which is still used in Santa Barbara. All honor +to his memory! "There lingers around Santa Barbara more of the aroma and +romance of a bygone civilization, when the worthy Padres set an example +of practical Christianity to the Indian aborigines that we would do well +to emulate, than is found elsewhere in the State." + +In the good old days a person could travel from San Diego to San +Francisco and not expend one shilling. The Mission Fathers would furnish +saddle, horse, or a comfortable bed, meals, and the Spanish host would +leave in the guest-chamber a small heap of silver covered by a cloth, +and the stranger, if needy, was expected to take some of it to supply +his wants. + +Would you like to see a specimen of the Indian dialect used by the +"Bearded People"? I can count to five in the Siujtu language--or, at +least, I don't care to go much further: paca, sco, masa, scu, itapaca; +twenty is sco-quealisco; and to-morrow, huanahuit. + +The islands are now only occupied by flocks of sheep, sheared twice a +year, and paying their owners a good profit; $100,000 one year from +Santa Rosa alone. The wool gets full of seed, and it is not the finest +quality, but this is counterbalanced by the quantity. + +Many large abalone shells are found on San Miguel. They are pried off +with a crow-bar, the shells are polished for sale, made into buttons, +etc., and the meat is dried and sent to China, where it is ground and +made into soup. It has been used here, and pronounced by some to be +equal to terrapin, and by others to closely resemble leather. + +These islands are always a delight to look upon. As the state of the +atmosphere varies they seem near or far away, clearly defined, or with a +hazy outline. But in sunlight or shadow, mist or mirage, they are ever +beautiful. Within the peaceful channel ships are safe while a wind storm +rages just beyond. The government sends big war-ships here for a trial +of speed. None of these islands are now desirable for residence. There +is no natural supply of fresh water, and the sheep rely on the moisture +left by the heavy fogs, and on a certain plant which holds water in its +cup-like blossom. I hear that at Catalina the goats, deprived of their +natural pabulum of hoop-skirts, tomato cans, and old shoes, feed on +clover and drink the dew. + +That's what this climate does for a goat. I do not dare to make many +statements in regard to novelties in natural history since one poor +woman poetized upon the coyote "howling" in the desert, and roused +hundreds of critics to deny that coyotes ever howled. And a scientific +student came to Santa Barbara not so long ago, and found on one of these +islands a species of tailless fox, and hastened to communicate the +interesting anomaly to the Smithsonian Institute. It seems that the +otter hunters trapped these foxes for their tails, then let them go. + +If it were not for these blunders I would state that roosters seem to +keep awake most of the night in Southern California, and can be heard +crowing at most irregular hours. Considering the risks, I refrain. + +The islands were named by a pious priest, who made the map; and those we +see in looking out from Santa Barbara are San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa +Cruz, Ana, Capa. San Nicholas Island is interesting as having been the +abode for sixteen years of a solitary Indian woman, a feminine Robinson +Crusoe, without even a Friday, who was left by mistake when the rest of +the Indians were carried away by order of the Mission Fathers. Two of +the men who at last succeeded in finding her gave their testimony, which +has been preserved; and one of them, Charlie Brown, is still alive, and +likes to tell the strange story. It seems she had run back to get her +child, and the ship went off without her. Nidever tells his story in +this way: + +"We scattered off two or three hundred yards apart. She had a little +house made of brush and had a fire; she was sitting by the fire with a +little knife; she was working with it. She had a bone; all came up and +looked at her; she had a heap of roots--that is what she lived on--and +had little sacks to carry them in. As soon as we sat down she put a lump +of them to roast on the fire. Finally we got ready to go, and we made +signs for her to come with us. She understood the signs for her to come +with us; she picked up her things to take them on board." + +She had a dress made of duck skins, sewed together with the sinews of a +seal, with needles made of bone--an eye drilled through. This dress the +priests sent to Rome. + +The demijohn in which she carried water was made out of rushes and +stopped with asphaltum. She was making one of these water bottles. She +heated small round stones in the fire and put them in the asphaltum, and +then lined the bottle, making it tight. She had no matches, of course, +nor even a tinder-box, but started fire by rubbing two sticks together. + +She said her child was eaten up by wolves. None of the Indians +understood her dialect; finally one woman was found who could talk to +her a little, who had been raised on the same island. The woman was +found in 1853. She seemed happy and contented, and would go round to +different houses and dance the Indian dances. She was a great curiosity; +twenty or thirty would go along with her. Many who were sailing by would +stop just to see her. + +The other hunters had noticed small human tracks, but never could see +any one. At last several men were scattered all over the island, and +Charlie Brown was the first to discover her. He thought at first it was +only a black crow sitting on a whalebone. I give his version, as his +language is far more picturesque and vivid than my paraphrase would be. +He says: + +"She had built a brush fence about two feet high to break the wind. The +sun was coming in her face. She was skinning a seal. The dog when he +noticed me he began to growl. I thought if she should run. I stepped +right round her, and she bowed as if she knew me before, and when the +Indians came up they all kneeled down, and when she saw there was some +of her color, she held out some of her food and offered all some. + +"I took her by the shoulder, and I said, '_Varmoose_,' and she +understood at once. I took everything she had, and she took a big seal +head in basket. We all had something to carry. Then she had a little +brand of fire, and she took that away and wobbled along with a strange +kind of a step like until we came to a watering-place about fifty feet +down the bank, and they all went down there and she went too, and she +sat down there and we watched to see what she would do, and she washed +herself over; her hair was all rotting away, a kind of bleached by the +sun, and we got to the vessel and she kneeled down, and we had a stove +right on deck and she crawled to the stove and we gave her a piece of +biscuit and she ate like a good fellow. It came on to blow; old man +Nidever had some bed-ticking. I made her a dress, and gave her a man's +shirt. She was tickled to death. If I was where she was she would hold +up her dress and point that I made it." + +He was asked how she happened to be left, repeated Nidever's story, and +added: "She found they were all gone, and commenced to hollo. No answer, +and hunted round and saw the tracks and found they went to lower part of +the island. When she got there found the vessel going away, and she +called, 'Mancyavina,' but it never came. She put her head on the ground +and laid on the ground and cried, and they never came. + +"The priest here had all the Indians in Santa Barbara and Santa Inez to +see if they understood her. They could understand some words, but not +all. She got baptized, and they made her a Christian and everything. A +steamer came up from below; the captain offered to take her up and show +her, but old man Nidever would not agree. She died; they gave her green +corn and melons, and they were too much for her. She made knives of +bone and wood, and had pointed nails for catching fish. She had ropes +nicely twisted with sinews, twisted as true as any rope-maker could +make, and had bottles made of grass, and dishes of wood with handles; +she put the feathers next her skin to keep warm." + +I will only add that wild dogs were numerous, and she tamed them for +friends. The priests called her Juana Maria, and I think the name of the +island should be changed in her honor. I doubt if Santa Barbara herself +could have done as well under similar circumstances. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +HER CITY AND COUNTY. + + + "Syrian apples, Othmanee quinces, + Limes and citrons and apricots, + And wines that are known to Eastern princes." + +In walking through the streets of Santa Barbara you may still see the +various types, but not so clearly defined as of old. Holy Fathers still +intone the service within the massive mission walls; they still +cultivate the large garden, from which woman is sedulously excluded. But +the faces are German and Irish. At a street corner two men are talking +earnestly, and as you pass you get a glance from Mexican eyes, dark and +soft, but the hair shows Indian blood. A real old Mexican vaquero rides +by in the genuine outfit, well worn and showing long use; next a +carriage full of fashionable visitors; then a queerer combination than +the Anglomaniac with his trousers legs turned up if the cable reports a +rainy day in London. This is the American vaquero--usually a short, fat +man with dumpy legs, who dons a flapping sombrero, buys a new Mexican +saddle, wooden stirrups, and leather riata, sometimes adding a coil of +rope at left side, wears the botas with a corduroy suit at dinner at +hotel, and doesn't know at all how comical an appearance he presents. +The very next to pass is one of the pioneers, who, although worth a +million or more, puts on no style, and surveys the mongrel in front with +a twinkle in his eye. Every one should own a horse or pony or burro +here, for the various drives are the greatest charm of the place. +Through all Southern California the happy children ride to school, where +the steeds, fastened to fence in front of building, wait patiently in +line, like Mary's lamb. But in Santa Barbara you see mere tots on +horseback, who look as if it were no new accomplishment. I believe the +mothers put them on gentle ponies to be cared for, or safe, as mothers +in general use the cradle or high-chair. One of the old Mexican +residents of Santa Barbara, when over eighty years of age, had the +misfortune to break his leg. He lay in bed uneasily until a surgeon +could be summoned and the fractured bones set and duly encased in +plaster. He then insisted on being carried out and placed upon his +favorite horse, where he sat during each day with patient serenity until +the damage was repaired by nature. + +The drives are all delightful. You cannot make a mistake; there are +twenty-eight drives distinct and beautiful. Those best known are, to the +Mission Cañon, to the Lighthouse, to Montecito and Carpenteria, Cooper's +Ranch, through the far-famed Ojai Valley, and the stage or coaching trip +to San Luis Obispo, not forgetting La Vina Grande (the big grapevine), +the trunk eighteen inches in diameter, foliage covering 10,000 square +feet, producing in one year 12,000 pounds of grapes; and the Cathedral +Oaks. I jotted down a few facts at the Lighthouse _a la_ Jingle in +_Pickwick Papers_: gleaming white tower, black lantern, rising from neat +white cottage, green window-shutters, light 180 feet above sea-level, +fine view from balcony, fields of young barley down to water's edge, +bluest blue in sea and sky, the lamp holds only one quart of oil, +reflectors do big business, considering, throwing the light 417 miles. + +The keeper, a woman, has been there over thirty years, never goes away +for a single night, trim, quaint, and decided, doesn't want to be +written up, will oblige her, don't believe a woman ever did so much good +with a quart of kerosene daily before. Been a widow a long time, heard +of one woman, wife of lighthouse-keeper, he died, she too stout to be +gotten out of the one room, next incumbent married her. + +Montecito, as Roe described it, is a village of charming gardens and +green lawns, with a softer climate even than Santa Barbara--a most +desirable situation for an elegant country retreat. I had the privilege +of visiting the home of Mr. W. P. Gould, a former resident of Boston, +who has one of the most perfect places I have ever seen. He has been +experimenting this year with olive oil in one room of his large house +for curing lemons, and has perfected a machine which expresses the +"virgin oil" without cracking a single pit or stone. This is a great +improvement, as one crushed stone will give an acrid taste to a quart of +oil. There is a fashion in fruits as much as in bonnets or sleeves. +Olive culture is just now the fad. Pears, prunes, almonds, walnuts, have +each had their day, or their special boom. Pomona is headquarters for +the olive industry. Nursery men there sold over 500,000 trees last year. +The tree does not require the richest soil. Hon. Elwood Cooper's olive +oil is justly famous, but the machinery designed by Mr. Gould makes a +much purer oil, pronounced by connoisseurs to be the finest in the +world. The olives are sun-dried; the ponderous rollers and keen knives +of the masher mash the fruit, and every after-process is the perfection +of cleanliness and skill. There is a nutty sweetness about this oil, and +a clear amber color, which makes it most desirable for the fastidious +invalid. + +This new process has been purchased by a company who are going to try to +give the country what it has never known before--pure olive oil, free +from a bit of the stone. No pure oil is brought to our country. The +public think the price too high; they prefer to buy cotton-seed oil at +thirty-five cents a gallon, and this is adulterated with peanuts, +sunflowers, and so on. This will do for the masses, but the best is none +too good if it can be found. + +Few appreciate the medicinal value of olive oil. Nations making use +regularly of this and the fruit are freed from dyspepsia. A free use in +the United States would round out Brother Jonathan's angular spareness +of form, and make him less nervous and less like the typical Yankee of +whom the witty Grace Greenwood said: "He looks as if the Lord had made +him and then pinched him." One does not see the orange groves here, but +the lemon trees and walnuts and olives are an agreeable change--just for +a change. + +"Who ever thinks of connecting such a commonplace article of diet as the +lemon with the romantic history of ill-fated Anne Boleyn? Yet, +indirectly, she was the cause of its first introduction into England, +and so into popular notice. Henry VIII., who, if he rid himself of his +wives like a brute, certainly won them like a prince, gave such splendid +feasts and pageants in honor of the coronation of Anne and of their +previous nuptials as had seldom been accorded to queens of the royal +blood. These kingly entertainments were in turn followed by the great +civic feast of London, for which the whole world was searched for +delicacies to add to the splendor. At one such banquet, graced by the +presence of the royal pair, a lemon was introduced as an elegant +novelty. To an epicure such as Henry, the acquisition of a castle in +France would have proved less acceptable, and such was the importance +attached to the discovery--so says an old biographer--that a special +record was made of the fact that the cost of this precious lemon was six +silver pennies." + +We hear nothing of irrigation, but almost everything will thrive without +it. The soil grows well all varieties of fruits found in the Eastern and +New England States, besides all the semi-tropical fruits, as guavas, +loquats, persimmons, dates, etc. As the Rev. Mr. Jackson says: "Could +it be shown that the primitive Eden bore as many fruits pleasant to the +taste, it would add a new pang to the thought of original sin." + +The number of native trees seems small, but trees have been naturalized +here from every part of the world. The pepper tree is from Peru, also +the quinine tree: from Chili, the monkey tree and the Norfolk Island +pine. + +Mr. Cooper imported the eucalyptus from Australia. It grows rapidly, and +is planted for windbreaks. It is used for firewood, and when cut down +nearly to the ground will start up with the same old courage and +ambition. Its roots are so eager for water that they make long detours, +sometimes even climbing up and down a stone wall, if it is in their +route, or into a well. From the same country comes the acacia, the +rubber tree, and a large number of shrubs. New Zealand contributes her +share, and to China and Japan they are indebted for the camphor tree, +the gingko, the loquat, and the chestnuts. To South Africa they are +indebted for the silver tree, and from the northern part of that +country the date-palm and the tamarind. + +One sees side by side here, and in Pasadena, trees from almost opposite +climes: the New England elm and a cork tree, a cedar of Lebanon and a +maple or an English oak. Then the glorious palm--twenty-two varieties in +Montecito Valley alone. + +Sydney Smith said of the fertility of Australia, "Tickle her with a hoe +and she laughs with a harvest." But in California even the hoe is not +needed, for "volunteer crops" come up all by themselves, and look better +than ours so carefully cultivated. They say that if a Chinaman eats a +watermelon under a tree the result is a fine crop of melons next year. +And I read of a volunteer tomato plant ploughed down twice that measured +twelve feet square, and bore thousands of small red tomatoes. + +Alfalfa is an ever-growing crop--can be garnered five times each year. + +And as for flowers, I really cannot attempt to enumerate or describe in +detail. There are hundreds of varieties of roses. They were found +growing wild by myriads, and have been most carefully cultivated and +improved. One rose tree in the grounds of the Arlington Hotel has spread +over sixty feet of the veranda, and three lady guests have climbed into +its branches at once. As one man said: "The roses here would climb to +the moon if a trellis could be provided." + +A friend sent me twenty-five large bunches of the choicest roses from +her garden one morning in April, each bunch a different variety. Their +roses are shipped in large quantities to San Francisco, and Chicago has +her churches decorated at Easter from the rose gardens of Santa Barbara. + +Honey naturally is thought of. Apiculture here is a great business. The +bee has to be busy all day long and all through the year--no rest. One +ingenious fellow proposed crossing the working bee with the firefly, so +it could work all night long by its own lantern. But this is better. I +hear wondrous stories of bees getting into cracks of church towers or +upper stories, and bulging out the buildings with their accumulated +stores--positively cartloads of sweetness. Think of honey made from +orange flowers selling at five cents a pound! + +A clergyman writing of Santa Barbara County says that twenty-five years +ago all their vegetables were imported. Now beans yield a ton to the +acre, potatoes two hundred and fifty bushels per acre, and he has seen +potatoes that weighed six, seven, and eight and a half pounds--as much +as an ordinary baby; beets, seventy-five tons to the acre; carrots, +thirty. Mr. Webster once declared in Congress that this State could +never raise a bushel of grain. Corn yields fifty bushels to the acre; +barley, sixty; wheat, thirty. Others give much higher records: corn, one +hundred and thirty bushels; barley, eighty; potatoes, four hundred; +forty tons of squashes, four tons of hay, sixty tons of beets. + +I have spoken of stock-raising. Dairying is a profitable industry. +Poultry farming a little uncertain. If interested in mining there is +much to explore. Just in this county are found gold, silver, copper, +asphaltum, bituminous rock, gypsum, quicksilver, natural gas, and +petroleum. + +And what sort of a climate does one find? Santa Barbara is an +all-year-round resort. It has all that one could ask. + + "The mountains look on Marathon, + And Marathon looks on the sea." + +It is a perpetual summer--sometimes a cold and rainy June, sometimes a +little too warm, sometimes a three days' sand-storm, disagreeable and +trying; but it is always June, as we in New England know June. At least +it is Juney from 9 A.M. until 4 P.M. Just before sunset the temperature +falls. Then when the sun goes rapidly in or down it is like being out at +sea. And to a sensitive patient, with nerves all on outside, chilled by +the least coolness, it is unpleasantly piercing. + +When any one describes Santa Barbara to you as a town + + "Where winds are hushed nor dare to breathe aloud, + Where skies seem never to have borne a cloud," + +remember that this applies truthfully to "a Santa Barbara day," but +_not_ to all days. Surf bathers go in every month of the year. But this +does not alter the fact that a person would be disappointed and consider +himself deceived if he accepted the general idea of absolute heaven on +earth. The inhabitants do not wish such exaggerations and +misrepresentations to go forth. California can bear to have the whole +truth told, and still be far ahead. Who wants eternal sunshine, eternal +monotony? + +The temperature during the day varies little. I see that one resident +compares it with May in other parts of the country. I think he has never +tried to find a picnic day in early May in New England. He says: "Our +coldest month is warmer than April at Philadelphia, and our warmest one +much cooler than June at same place." They did have one simoon in 1859, +when the mercury rose to 133°, and stayed there for eight hours. Animals +and birds died, trees were blasted and burned, and gardens ruined. But +that was most "unusual." + +Flannels are worn the year round. Average of rain, seventeen inches. +There are sixty-one mineral and medicinal springs in California that +are already famous. Here we can take hot sulphur baths, and drink the +nauseous water that is said to cure almost all diseases. + +Farming is comparatively easy. But grapevines are smitten by a +mysterious disease called "cellular degeneration," and phylloxera; a +black scale that injures orange and olive, and a white scale that is +worse. Apples are not free from worms; the gopher is sure to go for +every root it can find. There was a serpent even in the original Eden. +The historian remarks: "The cloddish, shiftless farmer is perhaps safer +in Massachusetts." I think of experiences at "Gooseville," and decide +not to buy, nor even rent a ranch, nor accept one if offered. "Fly to +ills I know not of?" No, thank you! + +I'm tired now of agriculture and climate, and will turn to less +practical themes. You sympathize. We will stop and begin a new chapter, +with a hope of being more interesting. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +IN GALA DRESS. + + + "The sun is warm, the sky is clear, + The waves are dancing, fast and bright; + Both isles and snowy mountains wear + The purple noon's transparent light." + +To see Santa Barbara at its best you must go there for the Floral +Carnival. Then at high noon, on a mid-April day, all State Street is +brilliantly decorated with leaves of the date-palm, pampa plumes, moss +combined with tropical foliage, calla-lilies, wildflowers, bamboo, +immortelles, branches of pepper trees, evergreens, lemon boughs laden +with yellow fruit, and variegated shrubs. Draperies of white and gold, +with green or red in contrast, or blue and white, in harmony with red +flowers, or floral arches draped with fish-nets bestrewn with pink +roses; or yellow alone in draperies combined with the poppy, or gray +moss and roses. No one fails to respond to the color summons for the +day of days. The meat-markets are tastefully concealed with a leafy +screen and callas. The undertaker makes his place as cheerful as +possible with evergreens, roses, and red geraniums. The drugstore is +gaily trimmed, and above the door see the great golden mortar made of +marigolds. The Mexican and Californian colors are often flung out, and +flags are flying from many windows. The long broad street is a blaze of +glory; the immense audience, seated on tiers of benches, wait patiently, +then impatiently, for the expected procession; and as many more people +are standing in line, equally eager. Many have baskets or armfuls of +flowers, with which to pelt the passing acquaintance. There are moments +of such intense interest that everything is indelibly and eternally +photographed. I see, as I write, the absolutely cloudless sky of perfect +blue, the sea a darker shade, equally perfect, the white paved street, +the kaleidoscope of color, the fluttering pennants, the faces of the +crowd all turned in one direction, and hark! the band is really coming, +the beginning of the pageant is just seen, and now sea, sky, flags, +crowds are no more regarded, for the long-talked-of parade is here. See +advancing the Grand Commander and his showy aids, gay Spanish cavaliers, +the horses stepping proudly, realizing the importance of the occasion, +the saddles and bridles wound with ribbons or covered with flowers. And +next the Goddess of Flowers, in canopy-covered shell, a pretty little +Mayflower of a maiden, with a band of maids of honor, each in a dainty +shell. The shouts and applause add to the excitement, and flowers are +hurled in merry war at the cavaliers, and the goddess and her +attendants. Next comes the George Washington coach, modelled after the +historic vehicle, occupied by stately dames and courtly gentlemen in +colonial array; even the footmen are perfection in the regulation livery +of that period. Solemn and imposing this may be, but they get a +merciless shower of roses, and one of the prizes. And do look at the +haymakers! Oh, that is charming! Country girls and boys on a load of +new-mown hay, with broad-brimmed hats, and dresses trimmed with +wild-flowers. And now the advance-guard is coming down again; they have +just turned at the head of the line, and it is already a little +confusing. But the judges! How can they keep cool, or even think, with +such a clamor of voices, and guests chattering thoughtlessly to them. +Here comes a big basket on wheels, handle and all covered with moss and +roses. Four girls in pink silk trimmed with moss stand within, bearing +shields of pink roses to protect their laughing faces from excess of +attention. What a lovely picture! Another basket just behind covered +entirely with marguerites; the wheels also are each a marguerite, the +white horses with harness covered with yellow ribbon--so dainty, so +cool. Is it better than the other? And here is a Roman chariot, a +Spanish market-wagon, a phaeton covered with yellow mustard, a hermit in +monastic garb; then Robin Hood and his merry men, and Maid Marian in +yellow-green habit, Will Scarlet and Friar Tuck in green doublets, +yellow facings, bright green felt hats, bows and quivers flower-trimmed, +even the tiny arrows winged with blossoms. Now there are equipages +three deep to survey instead of one, as they pass and repass in +bewildering splendor. And do look! Here come the comicalities! "The Old +Woman who lived in a Shoe"--a big floral slipper, with a dozen children +in pink and gray-green, and the old woman on great poke-bonnet; a +Japanese jinrikisha; an egg of white flowers, and a little boy hid away +so as to peep and put out a downy head as a yellow chicken; a bicycle +brigade; equestriennes; an interesting procession of native +Californians, with the accoutrements of the Castilian, on horseback. One +carriage is banked with marigolds, and the black horses are harnessed in +yellow of the exact shade. It is fitly occupied by black-eyed Spanish +beauties, with raven hair done up high with gold combs, and black lace +costumes with marigolds for trimming, and takes a well-deserved prize. + +Roses, roses, roses, roses! How they fly and fall as the fleeting +display is passing! Thirty thousand on one carriage. Roses cover the +street. And yet the gardens don't seem stripped. Where millions are +blooming thousands are not missed. And not roses alone, but every flower +of field and garden and conservatory is honored and displayed. Now the +contestants are driving up to the grand stand to secure silken banners. +Every one looks a little bit weary in procession and audience. Is it +over? I murmur regretfully: + + "All that's bright must fade, + The brightest still the fleetest; + All that's sweet was made + But to be lost when sweetest." + +Yes, it is over! Waving banners, rainbow colors, showers of blossoms, +rosy faces, mimic battle, fairy scenes, the ideal realized! + +This is better than the New Orleans Mardi Gras, so often marred by rain +and mud, with mythological ambiguities that few can understand, and +difficult to interpret in passing tableaux; better than similar display +at Nice and Mentone. _This_ I do call "unique" and the only. Let Santa +Barbara have this yearly festa for her own. She has fairly won the +preëminence. + +We at the comparatively frozen and prosaic north can indulge in gay +coaching parades at Franconia, Newport, or Lenox, where costumes of +gorgeous hues assist the natural beauty of the flowers. But it is only a +coaching parade, at the wind-up of a gay season. We cannot catch the +evanescent glamour, the optical enchantment, the fantastic fun, the +exquisite art of making long preparation and hard work, careful schemes +for effect, appear like airy nonsense for the amusement of an idle hour. +We show the machinery. A true carnival can only be a success in a +perpetual "summer-land," "within a lovely landscape on a bright and +laughing seacoast." Taine said, "Give me the race, the surroundings, and +the epoch, and I show you the man." Give me fair women, roses, sunshine, +leisure, and high-bred, prancing steeds, and I show you this Santa +Barbara Carnival. + +But this is only a portion of the entertainment. There is a display of +flowers at the Pavilion, where everything can be found that blooms in +California, all most artistically arrayed; and more fascinating in the +evening, when hundreds of tiny electric lights twinkle everywhere from +out the grayish-green moss, and the hall is filled with admiring guests. +There is always a play given one evening by amateur talent, a +tournament, and a grand closing ball. + +The tournament is exciting, where skilful riders try tilting at rings, +trying to take as many rings as possible on lance while galloping by the +wires on which these rings are lightly suspended---a difficult +accomplishment. Their costumes are elaborate and gay, but never _outrè_ +or bizarre, and no two alike. Each has his own color, and, like the +knights of old, has a fayre ladye among the spectators who is especially +interested and anxious for his success. + +Next comes the Spanish game of "colgar," picking up ten-dollar gold +pieces from the saddle, the horse at full speed. And the gymkhana race +ends the games. Those who enter, saddle at the word "go," open an +umbrella, and, taking out a cigar, light and smoke it--then see who +first rides to the goal. + +Last came the real _vaqueros_, and they ride untamed, unbroken horses, +after a long and rather painful struggle to mount. They lasso mustangs +and do wonderful things. But it was too much. I was glad to go and rest. + +The Flower Dance at the ball, where human flowers formed intricate +figures and dances for our edification and delight, was so attractive +that my words are of no avail. Picture twenty-eight young ladies, each +dressed to represent a flower--hollyhock, pansy, moss, rose, +morning-glory, eucalyptus blossom, pink clover, yellow marguerite, +Cherokee rose, pink carnation, forget-me-not, buttercup, pink-and-white +fuchsia, lily of the valley, wine-colored peony, white iris, daffodil, +and so on. They advance with slowly swaying motion, with wreaths +uplifted until they reach the stage, where sit the guests of honor. +There they bow low, then lay the garlands at their feet, and retire, +forming ingeniously pretty groups and figures, while bees and +butterflies flit in and out. See the bees pursuing the little pink +rosebuds until at last they join hands and dance gaily away, only to be +enthusiastically recalled. + +Do you ladies want to understand a little in detail about the dresses? +Of course you do. Well, here is the yellow marguerite: + +Slender petals of yellow satin falling over a skirt of white silk crêpe, +a green satin calyx girdle about her waist, and golden petals drooped +again from the neck of her low bodice and over her shoulders. + +A handsome brunette represented a wine-colored peony in a rich costume +of wine-colored velvet and satin. The petals fell to make the skirt, and +rose again from a bell sheathing the neck of her low corsage, and the +cap on her dark hair was a copy of the flower. + +There, you see how it is done. But it requires genius to succeed in such +an undertaking. Look at Walter Crane's pictures of human flowers for +more suggestions. + +Most effective of all was the cachuca, danced by a girl of pure +Castilian blood, who was dressed to symbolize the scarlet passionflower. +The room was darkened save where she stood, and her steps and poses were +full of Spanish fire and feeling, combined with poetic grace. + +Yes, it is over, but the pictures remain as freshly colored as if I saw +it all but yesterday. + +During the Carnival sentiment reigns supreme--that is, if you have +engaged rooms far in advance, and the matter of three daily meals is +settled--and portly business men become gallant, chivalrous, and even +poetic. In testimony I offer two verses sent to a lady visitor with a +bunch of roses: + + "We had not thought it was for aught + He lingered round us, scanning, + But to admire our spring attire, + The south wind softly fanning. + + "But when we knew it was for you + Our charms he sought to capture, + All round the bower each budding flower + Blushed pink with rosy rapture. + + "Lovingly, + + THE ROSES." + +George Eliot once said: "You love the roses--so do I! I wish the sky +would rain down roses as they rain from off the shaken bush. Why will it +not? Then all the valleys would be pink and white, and soft to tread on. +They would fall as light as feathers, smelling sweet; and it would be +like sleeping and yet waking all at once." + +She never knew Santa Barbara. + +I said the horses feel proud, and their owners tell me how they turn +their heads to see their adornment. And well they may, for a true +Barbareno loves his horse as does the Arab, and delights in his +decoration. Easily first in this matter is Mr. W. D. Thompson, who came +to Santa Barbara from Maine more than forty years ago, a nephew of the +captain with whom Dana sailed. Mr. Thompson is a progressive man, who +appreciates the many improvements achieved and contemplated, but still +loves to tell of the good old times when he was roughing it as a +pioneer. He has done a most important and valuable work in having a +typical Mexican saddle and bridle of the most approved and correct +pattern made out of the finest leather and several thousand silver +dollars. As his favorite mare stood before me with this magnificent +saddle on, and her forelegs tied with a little strap so that she could +step daintily but not run, I never saw such a pretty sight of the kind. +This saddle and bridle, worth over $3000, are now on exhibition in +Chicago. No more significant or beautiful exhibition of the early +argonautic period could be sent from Southern California, and it will +surely attract constant and admiring attention. Here is a description +from the San Francisco _Argonaut_: + +"This saddle and bridle, manufactured of bullion from Mexican dollars, +are exquisite works of art. The saddle is of typical Mexican pattern, +with a high pommel, well-hollowed seat, and the most elaborate of +trappings. The leather is stamped with elegant designs, and the whole +thing is a complete, costly, and elaborate equipment, of good taste and +artistic design. The saddle is studded over with silver ornaments. The +leather facings are set thick with buttons and rosettes; the pommel is +encased in silver; the corners of the aprons are tipped with silver; the +stirrups are faced and edged with silver half an inch thick, elaborately +chased and carved. The saddle-tree is hung with silver rings, fore and +aft, to answer all the requirements of the vaquero in lacing up his +riata. The girth, which passes under the horse's belly and cinches the +saddle in place, is woven of hair from horses' manes by a native +artisan, and is fully eight inches broad, with a tassel hanging at its +middle. The saddle, the bridle, and all its appointments are marvels of +beauty. The reins, martingale, and whip are composed of solid silver in +woven strands. The headstall is covered with fluted silver, with large +engraved silver rosettes at the sides, with decorations of flowers and +heads of wheat, with an elaborate nose-piece with silver engraving. The +side-pieces are of silver, massive and ornate, with a silver chain under +the horse's jaw. The bridle, reins, and accessories weigh about twelve +pounds, and are worth not less than two hundred and fifty dollars in +value of silver coin used in its manufacture." + +Everybody up and down the coast knows Dixie Thompson. His talk is full +of delightful anecdotes of the early settlers, and he has a droll, dry +humor of his own that is refreshing. Mr. Nordhoff, who is an old +friend, once wrote to the Harper "Drawer" about his shrewd way of +restraining the over-keen traders and laboring men who tried to impose +upon him. He heads the pleasant bit of gossip, "Captain Thompson's +Club," and says: + +"Captain Dixie is, to all appearance, the man of most leisure in all +leisurely Santa Barbara. He and his horses and carriages are always at +the service of a friend. But while he seems to be the idlest of men, he +is, in fact, an extremely capable business man who has many irons in the +fire--tills much good land, has horses and cattle and pigs of the best +breeds on many hills and in several rich valleys, and keeps all his +affairs running in good order. Still, he is an easy-going, not a +bustling, man of business. And it is just here that his social +contrivance comes in: he has judged it expedient to form a club. + +"'You see,' said he, the other day, to an old friend, 'the boys don't +always see me around, and sometimes they try to take a little advantage. +I find a fellow who don't haul half a load for me while I am paying for +a full load; another one who gives me short measure; or another who does +not do what I have told him. I hate to scold; and as they all deny when +I accuse them, and I can't be telling men that they are lying to me, I +thought I'd just establish a Liars' Club and bring them all in. It is +now in good, healthy operation. We don't call it the Liars' Club, of +course; we speak of the Club. But when I catch a man trying to 'do' me, +I just tell him that I'll have to make him a member of the Club.--Oh, +how do you do, Mr. President?' said Captain Dixie to a well-known +character just then passing by.--'He's the president of the Club, you +know,' he added. 'Here's Pancho now; I told him the other day I would +have to make him a member of the Club if he didn't look out. I guess +he'll get in yet. It's a very flourishing club, and more useful, I +guess, than some others.' + +"Don't laugh, my dear Drawer. I believe Captain Thompson has struck an +admirable idea, and one which might well have wide application. Don't +you suppose the material for such a club exists, for instance--not here +in New Haven, of course, but over in New York, say, or perhaps in +Washington? Think it over. The Drawer has always taken the lead in great +moral and social improvements. I leave it to you." + +Here, as in all Southern California, you will never know anything of the +real town unless you have a friend who can take you to unfrequented +cross-country drives up winding paths to mesas, or upland pasture +guarded by lock and key from the average tourist, and get views +indescribably fine. + +I am ashamed of my fellow-travellers who pick oranges by the score, and +even break off boughs from the choicest and most conspicuous trees, and +rush uninvited pell-mell into private grounds and quiet homes of +well-bred people to see and exclaim and criticise. Add to this nuisance +the fact that hundreds of invalids come yearly to the most desirable +localities, turning them into camping-grounds for bacilli. I wonder at +the singular forbearance and courtesy of the residents. + +Occasionally some one invited to speechify or air his opinion of things +in general here bluntly expresses his surprise at finding everywhere so +much culture, wealth, and refinement. This is a queer reflection on the +fact that this part of the State is filled with specimens of our finest +families from the East. I will frankly admit that I must be at my very +best to keep up with those I have been privileged to meet here. + +You must not forget when in Santa Barbara to visit the fine public +library, the best adapted for the convenience of actual workers of any I +have entered. You must not fail to drive to Montecito ("little forest"), +to Carpenteria and Goleta. + +I also advise you to spend a morning in Mr. Ford's studio, and an +afternoon with Mr. Starke and his treasures in wood-carving and +inlaying, brought yearly from the Yosemite, wrought out with his own +hands. He uses nearly fifty varieties of trees in his woodwork, and few +see his stock and go away without investing in a redwood cane, a +paper-knife, or an inlaid table. His orders come from all parts of the +world, and are often very large, mounting up to hundreds of dollars. He +is a simple-hearted student of nature, and a thorough workman. I enjoyed +a brief visit to Chinatown and Spanishtown close by, where I saw a woman +scrubbing clothes on a long flat board, with a piece of soap in each +hand, standing in a hut made of poles covered with brush, and noticed an +old oven outdoors and the meat hung up in strips to dry. I enjoyed also +a call on the old fellow who "catcha de fisha." + +And now, looking back as we are whirled away, I find I am repeating +those lines from Shelley which so exactly reproduce the picture: + + "The earth and ocean seem + To sleep in one another's arms and dream + Of waves, flowers, clouds, woods, rocks, and all that we + Read in their smiles, and call reality." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +AU REVOIR. + +Just as a woman is leaving her friends she ever has the most to chatter +about. How can I say _au revoir_ briefly when there is so much more to +tell? I so earnestly want to give California _en verdad_, or in truth. +There has been too much bragging from the settlers, as in 1887 the Los +Angeles _Herald_ said that "New York would soon be excelled by that +city." There is a general desire to surpass all the rest of the world in +as many ways as possible, and a general belief that it can easily be +done. And visitors have omitted all that was unpleasant, and exaggerated +the good points, so that one Californian speaks "of the dancing +dervishes of travel, singing insanely from the moment they come to us." + +There is so much that is novel in this wonderland that it is hard to +keep cool and look at all sides. In 1870 all vegetables and grain were +imported. Mr. Webster declared long ago in Congress that California was +absolutely worthless except for mining and grazing. The rancheros +thought the land only fit for sheep to roam over. Now great train-loads +of vegetables and grain leave daily for the East; all the earliest fruit +of New York, Boston, and Chicago comes from this State, and ships are +carrying all these products to all parts of the world. From north to +south the State measures over 800 miles--as far as from New York to +Florida--with an area of 189,000 square miles--as much as New England +and the Middle States combined, throwing in Maryland. The northern and +southern portions are as unlike as Massachusetts and Florida, and the +State must soon be divided. How little is known of Northern California! +Next year I hope to describe that, with its lofty mountains, wonderful +scenery, lakes of rare beauty, immense interests in grain, fruits, and +mining. This little bit along the coast is but a minute portion of the +whole. I have only followed in the footsteps of the Fathers, and would +like to take you to Monterey, where Junipero Serra founded his last +mission. Mrs. Stanford has placed a statue of the dear old saint on the +shore to honor his life-work. Realizing the size of the State and its +capabilities, big stories seem inevitable. As Talleyrand said of Spain, +"It is a country in which two and two make five." + +Some statements need to be modified. It is declared over and over that +here there are no thunderstorms. In the _Examiner_ of May 19th I read: +"Santa Rosa was visited by a very severe electrical storm about eleven +o'clock last night. The sky was brilliantly illuminated by lightning, +and peal after peal of heavy thunder was heard. This was followed by a +rain which continued until near morning." A church steeple was struck by +lightning and destroyed. This is unusual, but for "never" read "hardly +ever." No mad dogs, yet a little terrier I bought in San Francisco to +give to a friend had to be shot its first summer on account of rabies. +Let us balance matters: + +No malaria, but rheumatism. +No cyclones, " wind and sand storms. +No thunderstorms, " earthquakes. +No mad dogs, " rattlesnakes and centipedes, tarantulas and + scorpions. +No sunstrokes, " chilling fogs. + +All goes when the sun goes. The climate is "outdoors." A sunny room is +essential. The difference between noonday and midnight, temperature +between sun and shade, is something to be learned and guarded against. + +Each place is recommended by doctors who have regained their own health +as _the_ place for invalids. What Dr. Edwards says of San Diego is +repeated everywhere else by experts: + +"San Diego presents the most even climate, the largest proportion of +fair, clear days, a sandy and absorbent soil, and the minimum amount of +atmospheric moisture--all the factors requisite in a perfect climate." + +In each "_peripheral resistances are reduced to a minimum_." Dr. +Radebaugh, of Pasadena, who, I believe, has not the normal amount of +lung but has been restored to health by the air of Pasadena, where he +has a large practice, assures me that, in his candid opinion, "Pasadena +is the greatest all-the-year-round health-resort in the world." Dr. +Isham, of same place, goes into details, and is almost the only +physician I have consulted who acknowledges drawbacks in the Pasadena +climate for those who desire a cure for throat or lungs. "This climate, +like all else here, is paradoxical and contradictory," and he mentions +that the winds blowing from the Pacific are not usually the +rain-bearers, but those blowing from a point directly opposite, and that +the arid desert. Among objectionable features he mentions the "marked +changes of temperature daily, frequent fogs, excess of humidity in +winter owing to protracted rains (thirty inches in five months, from +November, 1892, to March of this year); hot, dry winds that prevail in +summer, with wind and sand storms, which have a debilitating effect on +nervous systems, and are irritating to the mucous membrane." + +How refreshing to find one person who does not consider his own refuge +from disease an ideal health-resort! He also owns that doctors do not +know yet how to treat such troubles as bronchitis, as is proven by their +experimenting upon patients in Minnesota, Colorado, Arizona, Florida, +and Pasadena. And he closes his letter in this way: + +"When local jealousies have subsided, and contending climates have had +their day, the thing of cardinal importance for an invalid such as you +have mentioned to do when about to change his or her home will be, not +to attach too much importance to this or that particular climatic +condition as determined by the barometer, thermometer, hygrometer, +anemometer, and other meteorological instruments, nor to lay too much +stress on a difference of a few hundred or thousand feet of elevation +above the sea; but choose a home where the environments will afford the +invalid or valetudinarian the greatest opportunity of living +out-of-doors, and of spending the hours of sunshine in riding, driving, +walking, and in other ways, whereby the entrance of pure air into the +lungs is facilitated. In Pasadena the days in winter are warm enough to +make outdoor life attractive and healthful, while the number of sunny +days throughout the year is above the average of that prevailing in many +other deservedly popular health-resorts." + +I will also quote a letter received from Dr. W. B. Berry, formerly of +Montclair, N. J., who, coming to Southern California an almost hopeless +invalid, is now fairly well, and will probably entirely regain his +health. He also is careful and conservative in statement, and therefore +commands serious attention: + + "Riverside, Cal., May 2, 1893. + + "Dear Miss Sanborn: To recommend any place to an invalid is to an + experienced climate-hunter no doubt, at times, a duty,--certainly + it is a duty from which he shrinks. + + "One does not see so many advanced cases of pulmonary disease here + as at either Asheville or Colorado Springs. The thousands of miles + of alkali, sage-brush, and desolation might explain that, but it + does seem to me that a much larger proportion of consumptives are + 'doing well' in this country than in those. + + "_Pure dry air_, _pure water_, and _clean dry soil_ are the + climatic elements essential for the pulmonary invalid, and for most + others. These conditions can be found at Riverside and its vicinity + during a large proportion of the year. + + "Here, too, are cool walks, with sunshine or shade, as may be + desired, and things on every side to interest. For, unfortunately, + the man with a sore chest has a brain and a spinal cord to be + stimulated and fed, not to speak of those little heartstrings + undiscovered by the anatomist, and which yet tug and pull mightily + in a far country. + + "In short, it would seem that any consumptive in an early stage of + his disease who does not thrive at a moderate altitude would do + well to come here and to stay--that is, if he will remember that + all the climate is out-of-doors." + +My own troublesome throat is almost as good as new, and I am proud to +name my physician, _Outdoors, M.D._ Come and consult the same unfailing +restorer. + +I have given, according to my humble ability, _la verdad cierta_--the +absolute truth--about the small fraction of the State known as Southern +California. + +I came with gargle and note-book, but long ago gave up the former; and +as for these jottings, I offer them to those who want to see this +much-talked-of Earthly Paradise as in a verbal mirror. And to all a +cordial _au revoir_! + + "Adieu to thee again! + A vain adieu! + There can be no farewell to scene like thine: + The mind is colored by thy every hue." + + + + +KATE SANBORN'S BOOKS. + +Adopting an Abandoned Farm. +16mo. Boards, 50 cents. + +"'Adopting an Abandoned Farm' has as much laugh to the square inch as +any book we have read this many a day."--_Boston Herald_. + +"If any one wants an hour's entertainment for a warm sunny day on the +piazza, or cold wet day by a log fire, this is the book that will +furnish it."--_New York Observer_. + + +A Truthful Woman in Southern California. +12mo. Cloth, 75 cents. + +"Miss Sanborn is certainly a very bright writer, and when a book bears +her name it is safe to buy it and put it aside for delectation when a +leisure hour comes along. This bit of a volume is enticing in every +page, and the weather seemed not to be so intolerably hot while we were +reading it."--_New York Herald_. + +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. + + + + +"EVERY AMERICAN SHOULD READ IT."--_The News, Providence_. + +The Life and Times of Thomas Jefferson. + +By Thomas E. Watson, Author of "The Story of France," "Napoleon," etc. +Illustrated with many Portraits and Views. 8vo. Attractively bound, +$2.50 net; postage, 17 cents additional. + +Mr. Watson long since acquired a national reputation in connection with +his political activities in Georgia. He startled the public soon +afterward by the publication of a history of France, which at once +attracted attention quite as marked, though different in kind. His book +became interesting not alone as the production of a Southern man +interested in politics, but as an entirely original conception of a +great theme. There was no question that a life of Jefferson from the +hands of such a writer would command very general attention, and the +publishers had no sooner announced the work as in preparation than +negotiations were begun with the author by two of the best-known +newspapers in America for its publication in serial form. During the +past summer the appearance of the story in this way has created +widespread comment which has now been drawn to the book just published. + +_Opinions by some of the Leading Papers._ + +"A vastly entertaining polemic. It directs attention to many undoubtedly +neglected facts which writers of the North have ignored or +minimized."--_The New York Times Saturday Review of Books_. + +"A noble work. It may well stand on the shelf beside Morley's +'Gladstone' and other epochal biographical works that have come into +prominence. It is deeply interesting and thoroughly fair and +just."--_The Globe-Democrat, St. Louis_. + +"The book shows great research and is as complete as it could possibly +be, and every American should read it."--_The News, Providence_. + +"A unique historical work."--_The Commercial Advertiser, New York_. + +"Valuable as an historical document and as a witness to certain great +facts in the past life of the South which have seldom been acknowledged +by historians."--_The Post, Louisville_. + +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. + + + + +By JOHN BACH McMASTER, Ph.D. + +History of the People of the United States, + +_From the Revolution to the Civil War_. By John Bach McMaster. To be +completed in six volumes. Vols. I, II, III, IV, and V now ready. 8vo. +Cloth, gilt top, $2.50 each. + +"A history _sui generis_ which has made and will keep its own place in +our literature."--_New York Evening Post_. + +"Those who can read between the lines may discover in these pages +constant evidences of care and skill and faithful labor, of which the +old-time superficial essayists, compiling library notes on dates and +striking events, had no conception."--_Philadelphia Telegraph_. + +"Professor McMaster has told us what no other historians have told.... +The skill, the animation, the brightness, the force, and the charm with +which he arrays the facts before us are such that we can hardly conceive +of more interesting reading for an American citizen who cares to know +the nature of those causes which have made not only him but his +environment and the opportunities life has given him what they +are."--_New York Times_. + + +With the Fathers. + +_Studies in the History of the United States_. 8vo. Cloth, $1.50. + +"Professor McMaster's essays possess in their diversity a breadth which +covers most of the topics which are current as well as historical, and +each is so scholarly in treatment and profound in judgment that the +importance of their place in the library of political history can not be +gainsaid."--_Washington Times_. + +"The book is of great practical value, as many of the essays throw a +broad light over living questions of the day. Professor McMaster has a +clear, simple style that is delightful. His facts are gathered with +great care, and admirably interwoven to impress the subject under +discussion upon the mind of the reader."--_Chicago Inter-Ocean_. + + + + + +STANDARD HISTORICAL WORKS. + + +History of the People of the United States, + +_From the Revolution to the Civil War_. By John Bach McMaster. To be +completed in six volumes. Vols. I, II, III, IV, and V now ready. 8vo. +Cloth, gilt top, $2.50 each. + + +The Beginners of a Nation. + +By Edward Eggleston. A History of the Source and Rise of the Earliest +English Settlements in America, with Special Reference to the Life and +Character of the People. The first volume in a History of Life in the +United States. Small 8vo. Gilt top, uncut, with Maps. Cloth, $1.50. + + +The Transit of Civilization, + +From England to America in the Seventeenth Century. By Edward Eggleston. +Uniform with "The Beginners of a Nation." Small 8vo. Gilt top, uncut. +Cloth, $1.50. + + +The Household History of the United States and its People. + +By Edward Eggleston. For Young Americans. Richly illustrated with 350 +Drawings, 75 Maps, etc. Square 8vo. Cloth, $2.50. + + +Bancroft's History of the United States, + +From the Discovery of the Continent to the Establishment of the +Constitution in 1789. (Also _Edition de Luxe_, on large paper, limited +to one hundred sets, numbered.) Complete in six volumes, with a Portrait +of the Author. 8vo. Cloth, uncut, gilt top, $15.00; half calf or half +morocco, $27.00; tree calf, $50.00. + +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. + + + + +HISTORIC LIVES SERIES. + +A series of popular biographies dealing with famous men of all times and +countries, written in brief form and representing the latest knowledge +on the subjects, each illustrated with appropriate full-page pictures, +the authors being chosen for their special knowledge of the subjects. + +Each 12mo, Illustrated, Cloth, $1.00 net. + +Postage, 10 cents additional. + +_NOW READY_. + +Father Marquette, the Explorer of the Mississippi. +By Reuben Gold Thwaites, Editor of "The Jesuit Relations," etc. + +Daniel Boone. +By Reuben Gold Thwaites, Editor of "The Jesuit Relations," "Father +Marquette," etc. + +Horace Greeley. +By William A. Linn, Author of "The Story of the Mormons." + +Sir William Johnson. +By Augustus C. Buell, Author of "Paul Jones, Founder of the American +Navy." + +Anthony Wayne. +By John R. Spears. + +Champlain: The Founder of New France. +By Edwin Asa Dix, M.A., LL.D., Formerly Fellow in History in Princeton +University; Author of "Deacon Bradbury," "A Midsummer Drive through the +Pyrenees," etc. + +James Oglethorpe: The Founder of Georgia. +By Harriet C. Cooper. + +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. + + + + +A NEW VOLUME IN APPLETONS' HISTORIC LIVES SERIES. + +Horace Greeley. + +By William A. Linn, Author of "The Story of the Mormons"; formerly +Managing Editor of the _New York Evening Post_. Illustrated. 12 mo. +Cloth, $1.00 net; postage, 10 cents additional. + +It is remarkable that so little has been written about Greeley since he +died; in fact, since Parton's book appeared, just before the civil war, +no one has undertaken a comprehensive life of Greeley. Greeley's own +autobiography, which he called "Recollections of a Busy Life," has been +the only later work of note to which readers could go, and that book has +not been in general circulation for a great many years. Mr. Linn's +volume, therefore, should have a large public waiting to receive it. The +character of Horace Greeley is studied by Mr. Linn in his editorial +work. He traces his opinions as set forth in his editorial writings. In +this way he shows how he "grew up" to his earnest advocacy of a +protective tariff; how he became the most powerful opponent of the +extension of the slave power, after looking on the subject almost with +indifference in his earlier years; his curious inconsistencies during +the civil war, when he was a source of constant interference with the +Administration at Washington; and the circumstances that led to his +selection as the Liberal candidate for President in 1872. + +"Every lover of America's great men should possess this life of +Greeley."--_Raleigh Observer_. + +"The best biography of Greeley yet written."--_The Literary World_. + +"Mr. Linn has not attempted an elaborate life of Greeley, but only an +extended, a just and thoroughly appreciative essay. Eminent success has +crowned the effort. The general public, as well as the more fastidious +student, will find genuine pleasure and real benefit in perusing this +little volume."--_Prof. William F. Dodd, New York Times Review_. + +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. + + + + +REMINISCENCES OF A SCIENTIST. + +The Autobiography of Joseph Le Conte. + +With portrait. 12mo. Cloth, $1.25 net. + +Professor Le Conte was widely known as a man of science, and notably as +a geologist. His later years were spent at the University of California. +But his early life was passed in the South; there he was born and spent +his youth; there he was living when the civil war brought ruin to his +home and his inherited estate. His reminiscences deal with phases of +life in the South that have unfailing interest to all students of +American history. His account of the war as he saw it has permanent +value. He was in Georgia when Sherman marched across it. Professor Le +Conte knew Agassiz, and writes charmingly of his associations with him. + +"Attractive because of its unaffected simplicity and +directness."--_Chicago Chronicle_. + +"Attractive by virtue of its frank simplicity."--_New York Evening +Post_. + +"Well worth reading even if the reader be not particularly interested in +geology."--_New York American_. + +"This story of a beautiful, untiring life is worthy of consideration by +every lover of truth."--_St. Paul Despatch_. + +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, + +NEW YORK. BOSTON. CHICAGO. LONDON. + + + + +THE AUTHENTIC LIFE OF LINCOLN. + +Abraham Lincoln: The True Story of a Great Life. + +By William H. Herndon and Jesse W. Weik. With numerous Illustrations. +New and revised edition, with an Introduction by Horace White. In two +volumes, 12mo. Cloth, $3.00. + +"It will always remain the authentic life of Abraham Lincoln."--_Chicago +Herald_. + +"A remarkable piece of literary achievement--remarkable alike for its +fidelity to facts, its fulness of details, its constructive skill, and +its literary charm."--_New York Times_. + +"The three portraits of Lincoln are the best that exist; and not the +least characteristic of these, the Lincoln of the Douglas debates, has +never before been engraved.... Herndon's narrative gives, as nothing +else is likely to give, the material from which we may form a true +picture of the man from infancy to maturity."--_The Nation_. + +"Truly, they who wish to know Lincoln as he really was must read the +biography by his friend and law-partner, W. H. Herndon. This book was +imperatively needed to brush aside the rank growth of myth and legend +which was threatening to hide the real lineaments of Lincoln from the +eyes of posterity.... There is no doubt about the faithfulness of Mr. +Herndon's delineation. The marks of unflinching veracity are patent in +every line."--_New York Sun_. + + +Lincoln in Story. + +_The Life of the Martyr President told in Authenticated Anecdotes_. +Edited by Silas G. Pratt. Illustrated, 12mo, Cloth, 75 cents net; +postage, 9 cents additional. + +"A valuable and exceedingly interesting addition to Lincoln +literature."--_Brooklyn Standard-Union_. + +"An excellent compilation on a subject of which the American people +never grow tired."--_Boston Transcript_. + +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. + + + + +_A PICTORIAL HISTORY OF THE WAR WITH SPAIN_. + +Cannon and Camera. + +Sea and Land Battles of the Spanish-American War in Cuba, Camp Life, and +the Return of the Soldiers. Described and illustrated by J. C. Hemment. +With over one hundred full-page pictures taken by the Author, and an +Index. Large 12mo. Cloth, $2.00. + +"Accurate as well as picturesque.... Mr. Hemment has done his work well. +In point of faithful realism there has thus far been nothing better in +the whole war literature."--_Boston Journal_. + +"Clever and picturesque.... Over one hundred capital instantaneous +photographs illustrate Mr. Hemment's well-written record, and not the +least of the book's recommendations is the outspoken simplicity of its +style, and the strong impression it makes upon the reader of being the +uninfluenced evidence of an eyewitness who 'draws the thing as he sees +it' and without exaggeration or prejudice."--_Sunday School Times_. + + +Recollections of the Civil War. + +By CHARLES A. DANA. With Portrait. Large 12mo. Cloth, gilt top, uncut, +$2.00. + +"The book will rank among the trustworthy sources of knowledge of the +civil war."--_New York Evening Post_. + +"Mr. Dana's official position as Assistant Secretary of War while the +rebellion was in progress gave him exceptional opportunities of +observation which he was keen to take advantage of, while his rare gift +of terse and vivid expression enabled him to record what he saw in a +series of pen pictures that are little less than instantaneous +photographs. The feature _par excellence_ of these reminiscences is +their interesting character.... He tells you briefly but graphically +what he saw, heard, or did himself. One gains a very real and personal +knowledge of the war from these recollections."--_Chicago Times-Herald_. + +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. + + +[Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors have been +corrected. + +In Chapter II, "irridescent" has been changed to "iridescent", and +"witten" has been changed to "written".] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Truthful Woman in Southern California, by +Kate Sanborn + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A TRUTHFUL WOMAN *** + +***** This file should be named 19391-8.txt or 19391-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/3/9/19391/ + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Truthful Woman in Southern California + +Author: Kate Sanborn + +Release Date: September 27, 2006 [EBook #19391] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A TRUTHFUL WOMAN *** + + + + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<h1>A TRUTHFUL WOMAN IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA</h1> + +<h2>BY KATE SANBORN</h2> + +<p class="center">AUTHOR OF ADOPTING AN ABANDONED FARM, ETC.</p> + +<p class="center">NEW YORK<br /> +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY<br /> +1906</p> + +<p class="center">COPYRIGHT, 1893, +BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS.</h2> + +<ol> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_I">HINTS FOR THE JOURNEY.</a> <span style="visibility:hidden;">1</span></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_II">AT CORONADO BEACH.</a> <span style="visibility:hidden;">7</span></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_III">SAN DIEGO.</a> <span style="visibility:hidden;">20</span></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">EN ROUTE TO LOS ANGELES.</a> <span style="visibility:hidden;">50</span></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_V">LOS ANGELES AND ROUND ABOUT.</a> <span style="visibility:hidden;">57</span></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">PASADENA.</a> <span style="visibility:hidden;">64</span></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CAMPING ON MOUNT WILSON.</a> <span style="visibility:hidden;">80</span></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CATCHING UP ON THE KITE-SHAPED TRACK.</a> <span style="visibility:hidden;">96</span></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">RIVERSIDE.</a> <span style="visibility:hidden;">113</span></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_X">A LESSON ON THE TRAIN.</a> <span style="visibility:hidden;">123</span></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">SANTA BARBARA.</a> <span style="visibility:hidden;">137</span></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">HER CITY AND COUNTY.</a> <span style="visibility:hidden;">151</span></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">IN GALA DRESS.</a> <span style="visibility:hidden;">165</span></li> +<li><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">AU REVOIR.</a> <span style="visibility:hidden;">184</span></li> +</ol> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="A_Truthful_Woman_in_Southern_California" id="A_Truthful_Woman_in_Southern_California"></a>A Truthful Woman in Southern California</h2> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<h3>HINTS FOR THE JOURNEY.</h3> + + +<blockquote><p>The typical Forty-niner, in alluring dreams, grips the Golden +Fleece.</p> + +<p>The <i>fin-de-siècle</i> Argonaut, in Pullman train, flees the Cold and +Grip.</p> + +<p><i>En Sol y la Sombra</i>—shade as well as sun.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Yes, as California is. I resolve neither to soar into romance nor drop +into poetry (as even Chicago drummers do here), nor to idealize nor +quote too many prodigious stories, but to write such a book as I needed +to read before leaving my "Abandoned Farm," "Gooseville," Mass. For I +have discovered that many other travellers are as ignorant as myself +regarding practical information about every-day life here, and many +others at home may know even less.</p> + +<p>So let me say that California has not a tropical, but a semi-tropical +climate, and you need the same clothing for almost every month that is +found necessary and comfortable in New York or Chicago during the +winter.</p> + +<p>Bring fur capes, heavy wraps, simple woolen dresses for morning and +outdoor life; and unless rolling in wealth, pack as little as possible +of everything else, for extra baggage is a curse and will deplete a +heavy purse,—that rhymes and has reason too. I know of one man who paid +$300 for extra baggage for his party of fifteen from Boston to Los +Angeles.</p> + +<p>Last year I brought dresses and underwear for every season, and for a +vague unknown fifth; also my lectures, causing profanity all along the +line, and costing enough to provide drawing-room accommodations for the +entire trip.</p> + +<p>Why did I come? Laryngitis, bronchitis, tonsilitis, had claimed me as +their own. Grip (I will not honor it with a foreign spelling, now it is +so thoroughly acclimated and in every home) had clutched me twice—nay, +thrice; doctors shook their heads, thumped my lungs, sprayed my throat, +douched my nose, dosed me with cough anodynes and nerve tonics, and +pronounced another winter in the North a dangerous experiment. Some of +you know about this from personal experience. Not a human being could I +induce to join me. If this hits your case, do not be deterred; just come +and be made over into a joyous, healthful life. I would not urge those +to take the tedious journey who are hopelessly consumptive. Home is the +best place for such, and although I see many dragging wearily along with +one lung, or even half of that, who settle here and get married and +prolong existence for a few years, and although some marvellous cures +have been effected, still I say the same.</p> + +<p>And what is to be put in the one big trunk? Plenty of flannels of medium +thickness, a few pretty evening dresses, two blouses, silk and woolen or +velvet for morning wear, with simple skirts, a gossamer, rubbers, thick +boots for long tramps and excursions, parasol, umbrella, soft hat to +shade the face, and gloves for all sorts of occasions. I do not venture +to suggest anything for men, they travel so sensibly. The more +experienced one is, the less he carries with him.</p> + +<p>So do not load up with portfolio and portable inkstand, your favorite +stationery, the books that delighted your childhood or exerted a +formative influence upon your character in youth. Deny yourself and +leave at home the gold or silver toilet set, photograph album, family +Bibles, heavy fancy work, gilded horseshoe for luck, etc. I know of +bright people who actually carried their favorite matches from an +eastern city to Tacoma, also a big box of crackers, cheese, pickles, and +preserved fruits, only to find the best of everything in that brilliant +and up-with-the-times city. One old lady brought a calla-lily in a pot! +When she arrived and saw hedges and fields of lilies, hers went out of +the window. Another lady from Boston brought a quart bottle of the +blackest ink, only to spill it all upon a new carpet at Santa Barbara, +costing the boarding-house keeper thirty-five dollars. Everything that +one needs can be purchased all along the way, from a quinine capsule to +a complete outfit for any occasion.</p> + +<p>As to the various ways of coming here, I greatly prefer the Southern +Pacific in winter, and Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé in spring or summer. +Either will take you from New York to San Diego and return for $137, +allowing six months' stay. The "Phillips Excursion" will take you from +Boston to San Francisco for fifty-five dollars. But in this case the +beds are hard, and you provide your own meals. Some try the long voyage, +twenty-three days from New York to San Francisco. It is considered +monotonous and undesirable by some; others, equally good judges, prefer +it decidedly.</p> + +<p>I believe in taking along a loose wrapper to wear in the cars, +especially when crossing the desert. It greatly lessens fatigue to be +able to curl up cosily in a corner and go to sleep, with a silk +travelling hat or a long veil on one's head, and the stiff bonnet or +big hat with showy plumes nicely covered in its long purse-like bag, and +hanging on a hook above. The sand and alkali ruin everything, and are +apt to inflame the eyes and nose. I find a hamper with strap +indispensable on the train; it will hold as much as a small trunk, yet +it can be easily carried.</p> + +<p>Now imagine you have arrived, very tired, and probably with a cold in +your head, for the close heated cars and the sudden changes of climate +are trying. You may be at The Raymond, and "personally conducted." +Nothing can be better than that. But if you are alone at Los Angeles, or +San Francisco, come straight down to Coronado Beach, and begin at the +beginning—or the end, as you may think it.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<h3>AT CORONADO BEACH.</h3> + + +<p>I associate Coronado Beach so closely with Warner (Charles D.), the +cultured and cosmopolitan, that every wave seems to murmur his name, and +the immense hotel lives and flourishes under the magic of his rhetoric +and commendation. Just as Philadelphia is to me Wanamakerville and +Terrapin, so Coronado Beach is permeated and lastingly magnetized by +Warner's sojourn here and what he "was saying."</p> + +<p>But I must venture to find fault with his million-times-quoted adjective +"unique" as it is used. It has been stamped on stationery and menu +cards, and has gone the world over in his volume "Our Italy," and no one +ever visits this spot who has not made the phrase his own. To me it +deserves a stronger word, or series of words. We say a pretty girl has a +"unique" way of dressing her hair, or an author a "unique" way of +putting things.</p> + +<p>But as I look out of my window this glorious morning, and watch the +triple line of foaming waves breaking on the long beach, a silver sickle +in the sunshine; the broad expanse of the Pacific, with distant sails +looking like butterflies apoise; Point Loma grandly guarding the right, +and farther back the mountain view, where snowy peaks can just be +discerned over the nearer ranges; the quiet beauty of the grounds below, +where borders and ovals and beds of marguerites contrast prettily with +long lines and curves of the brilliant marigolds; grass, trees, and +hedges green as June—a view which embraces the palm and the pine, the +ocean and lofty mountains, cultivated gardens and rocky wastes, as I see +all this, I for one moment forget "unique" and exclaim, "How bold, +magnificent, and unrivalled!" Give me a new and fitting adjective to +describe what I see. Our best descriptive adjectives are so recklessly +used in daily life over minute matters, that absolutely nothing is left +for this rare combination.</p> + +<p>As a daughter of New Hampshire in this farthest corner of the southwest, +my mind crosses the continent to the remote northeast and the great +Stone Face of the Franconia Mountains. Chiselled by an Almighty hand, +its rugged brow seamed by the centuries, its features scarred by the +storms of ages, gazing out over the broad land, where centre the hopes +of the human race, who can forget that face, sad with the mysteries of +pain and sorrow, yet inspiring with its rugged determination, and at +times softened with the touch of sunlit hope?</p> + +<p>Point Loma has something of the same sphinx-like grandeur, with its long +bold promontory stretching out into the western waters. These two seem +to be keeping watch and ward over mountain and sea: each appropriate in +its place and equally impressive. There the stern prophet surveying the +home of great beginnings, the cradle of creative energy; and here, its +counterpart, a mighty recumbent lion, its dreamy, peaceful gaze turned +with confidence out over the wide Pacific to the setting sun, with +assurance of ultimate success, a pledge of aspirations satisfied, of +achievements assured, of——Whoa there! Hello! This to my runaway +steeds, Imagination and Sentiment. Brought back by a passing bell-boy, I +shall now keep a tighter rein.</p> + +<p>But when one first breathes the air of California, there is a curious +exaltation and excitement, which leads on irresistibly. This is often +followed by a natural depression, sleepiness, and reaction. But that +view never changes, and I know you will say the same. A florid, +effervescent, rhapsodical style seems irresistible. One man of uncommon +business ability and particularly level head caught the spirit of the +place, and wrote that "the most practical and unpoetical minds, too, +come here and go away, as they afterward gingerly admit, carrying with +them the memory of sunsets emblazoned in gold and crimson upon cloud, +sea, and mountain; of violet promontories, sails, and lighthouses +etched against the orange of a western sky; of moonlight silvering +breeze-rippled breadths of liquid blue; of distant islands shimmering in +sun-lit haze; of sunrises with crowns of glory chasing the vapory, +fleece-like shadows from the wet, irridescent beach, and silhouetting +the fishermen's sails in the opalescent tints of a glassy sea."</p> + +<p>Some temperaments may not be affected at all. But the first morning I +felt like leaping a five-barred fence, and the next like lying down +anywhere and sleeping indefinitely. I met a distinguished Boston artist +recently, who had just arrived. The day was superb. He seemed in a +semi-delirium of ecstasy over everything. His face glowed, his eyes +shone, his hands were full of flowers. He said, "My heart jumps so I'm +really afraid it will jump out of my body." The next morning he was +wholly subdued. It had poured all night, and the contrast was +depressing. A six-footer from Albany was in the sleepy state. "If I +don't pull out soon," he said, "I shall be bedridden. I want to sleep +after breakfast, or bowling, or bath, or my ride or dinner, and really +long to go to bed by nine."</p> + +<p>There has probably been more fine writing and florid rhetoric about +California than any other State in the Union.</p> + +<p>The Hotel del Coronado is a mammoth hostelry, yet homelike in every +part, built in a rectangle with inner court, adorned with trees, +flowers, vines, and a fountain encircled by callas; color, pure white, +roofs and chimneys red; prevailing woods, oak, ash, pine, and redwood.</p> + +<p>All around the inner court a series of suites of rooms, each with its +own bath and corner sitting-room—literally "a linkèd suiteness long +drawn out." It is one eighth of a mile from my bedroom to my seat in the +dining-room, so that lazy people are obliged to take daily +constitutionals whether they want to or not, sighing midway for trolley +accommodations. The dining-room may safely be called roomy, as it seats +a thousand guests, and your dearest friends could not be recognized at +the extreme end. Yet there is no dreary stretch or caravansary effect, +and to-day every seat is filled, and a dozen tourists waiting at the +door.</p> + +<p>Every recreation of city or country is found in this little world: +thirty billiard-tables, pool, bowling, tennis, polo, bathing (where +bucking barrel-horses and toboggan slides, fat men who produce tidal +waves, and tiny boys who do the heroic as sliders and divers, make fun +for the spectators), hunting, fishing, yachting, rowing, riding to +hounds, rabbit hunts, pigeon shoot, shooting-galleries, driving, +coaching, cards, theatre, ballroom, lectures, minstrels, exhibitions of +the Mammoth and Minute from Yosemite with the stereopticon, to Pacific +sea-mosses, the ostrich farm, the museum or maze for a morning hour, +dressing or undressing for evening display, watching the collection of +human beings who throng everywhere with a critical or humorous eye, +finding as much variety as on Broadway or Tremont Street; +dancing-classes for children; a chaperon and a master of ceremonies for +grown folks; a walk or drive twelve miles long on a smooth beach at low +tide, not forgetting the "dark room" for kodak and camera f—amateurs.</p> + +<p>You see many athletic, fine-looking men, who ride daringly and ride to +kill. Once a week the centre of the office is filled with game: +rabbits, quail, snipe, ducks, etc., everything here—but an undertaker. +And old Ocean eternally booming (the only permanent boom I know of in +Southern California).</p> + +<p>And that is what you see and hear at the Hotel del Coronado. The summer +climate is better than the winter—never too warm for comfort, the +mercury never moving for weeks. I expected constant sunshine, a +succession of June's fairest days, which would have been monotonous, to +say nothing of the effect upon crops and orchards. The rainy season is +necessary and a blessing to the land-owners, hard as it is for "lungers" +and the nervous invalids who only feel well on fine days and complain +unreasonably.</p> + +<p>Ten inches is the average needed just here. Rain is rainy and wet +weather is wet, but the ground dries as soon as the pelting shower is +over. I do not find the raw, searching dampness of our Eastern seashore +resorts. Here we are said to have "dry fogs" and an ideal marine +atmosphere, but it was too cold for comfort during the March rains for +those not in robust health.</p> + +<p>As I sit in the upper gallery and watch the throng issuing from the +dining-room, I make a nice and unerring social distinction between the +Toothpick Brigade who leave the table with the final mouthful +semi-masticated, and those who have an air of finished contentment.</p> + +<p>The orchestra is unusually good, giving choice selections admirably +executed. I have not decided whether music at meals is a blessing or +otherwise. If sad, it seems a mockery; if gay, an interruption. For one +extremely sensitive to time and tune it is difficult to eat to slow +measures. And when the steak is tough and a galop is going on above, it +is hard to keep up.</p> + +<p>Among the many fleeting impressions of faces and friends here, one or +two stand out clearly and indelibly—stars of the first magnitude in the +nebulæ—as dear Grandma Wade from Chicago, the most attractive old lady +I ever met: eighty-three years old, with a firm step, rotund figure, and +sweet, unruffled face, crowned with the softest snow-white curls, on +which rests an artistic cap trimmed with ribbons of blue or delicate +heliotrope, and small artificial flowers to match. I have known several +interesting octogenarians, but never one that surpassed her in +loveliness, wit, and positive jollity. Her spontaneous fun is better +than the labored efforts of many a famous humorist.</p> + +<p>She still has her ardent admirers among men as well as women, and now +and then receives an earnest proposal from some lonely old fellow.</p> + +<p>The last of these aged lovers, when refused and relegated to the +position of a brother, urged her to reconsider this important matter, +making it a subject of prayer. But she quietly said, "I'm not going to +bother the Lord with questions I can answer myself." When choked by a +bread-crumb at table, she said to the frightened waiter, as soon as she +had regained her breath, "Never mind, if that did go down the wrong way, +a great many good things have gone down the right way this winter."</p> + +<p>She is invariably cheerful, and when parting with her son for the winter +she said, "Well, John, I want to know before I go just what you have +left me in your will!" which little joke changed a tear into a smile.</p> + +<p>Even when ill she is still bright and hopeful, so that a friend +exclaimed, "Grandma, I do believe you would laugh if you were dying;" +and she replied, "Well, so many folks go to the Lord with a long face, I +guess He will be glad to see one come in smiling."</p> + +<p>Oh, how repulsive the artificial bloom, the cosmetics and hair-dyes +which make old age a horror, compared with her natural beauty! God bless +and keep dear Grandma Wade!</p> + +<p>Little "Ted" is another character and favorite, and his letter to his +nurse in New York gives a good idea of how the place affects a bright, +impressionable child.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"<span class="smcap">My dear Julia</span>: <i>It is a dummy near the hotel and it takes five +days to come here and there is an island right beyond the boat +house and they have a pigeon shoot every week. And there is six +hundred people here Julia, one hundred and fifty came yesterday.</i></p> + +<p>"<i>There is a mountin across the river and a house very far away by +itself, Julia. I play in the sand every day of my life, and I take +swimming lessons and I have two oranges. California is the biggest +world in the country and there is a tree very, very far away. Julia +it is a puzzle walk near the hotel, Rose and me went all through it +and Julia, we got our way out easy.</i>"</p></blockquote> + +<p>He has it all. All the trees are cultivated here, so I looked round for +the one Ted spoke of, and find it lights up at night and revolves for +the aid of the mariners. I think that all Californians echo his +sentiment that "California is the biggest world in the country"; and +compared with the hard work of the New England farmers, what is the +cultivation of orchards but playing in the sand with golden oranges? +Some one says that Californians "irrigate, cultivate, and exaggerate."</p> + +<p>Charles Nordhoff, the veteran journalist and author, lives within sight +of the hotel (which he pronounces the most perfect and charming hotel he +knows of in Europe or America), in a rambling bungalow consisting of +three small cottages moved from different points and made into one. He +believes in California for "health, pleasure, and residence." It is a +rare privilege to listen to his conversation, sitting by his open fire +or at his library table, or when he is entertaining friends at dinner.</p> + +<p>So ends my sketch of Coronado. Coronado! What a perfect word! Musical, +euphonious, regal, "the crowned"! The name of the governor of New +Galicia, and captain-general of the Spanish army, sent forth in 1540 in +search of the seven cities of Cibola. General J. H. Simpson, U. S. A., +has written a valuable monograph on "Coronado's March," which can be +found in the Smithsonian Report for 1869.</p> + +<p>I intend to avoid statistics and history on the one side, and +extravagant eulogy on the other.</p> + +<p>Now we will say good-by to our new friends, take one more look at Point +Loma, and cross the ferry to San Diego.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<h3>SAN DIEGO.</h3> + + +<blockquote><p>"The truly magnificent, and—with reason—famous port of San +Diego."—<i>From the first letter of Father Junipero in Alto +California.</i></p></blockquote> + +<p>Fifteen cents for motor, ferry, and car will take you to Hotel Florence, +on the heights overlooking the bay, where I advise you to stop. The +Horton House is on an open, sunny site, and is frequented by +"transients" and business men of moderate means. The Brewster is a +first-class hotel, with excellent table. The Florence is not a large +boarding-house or family hotel, but open for all. It has a friendly, +homelike atmosphere, without the exactions of an ultra-fashionable +resort. The maximum January temperature is seventy-four degrees, while +that of July is seventy-nine degrees, and invalid guests at this house +wear the same weight clothing in summer that they do in winter. The +rooms of this house are all sunny, and each has a charming ocean or +mountain view. It is easy to get there; hard to go away. Arriving from +Coronado Beach, I was reminded of the Frenchman who married a quiet +little home body after a desperate flirtation with a brilliant society +queen full of tyrannical whims and capricious demands. When this was +commented on as surprising, he explained that after playing with a +squirrel one likes to take a cat in his lap. Really, it is so restful +that the building suggests a big yellow tabby purring sleepily in the +sunshine. I sat on the veranda, or piazza, taking a sun-bath, in a happy +dream or doze, until the condition of nirvana was almost attained. What +day of the week was it? And the season? Who could tell? And who cares? +Certainly no one has the energy to decide it. Last year, going there to +spend one day, I remained for five weeks, hypnotized by my +environments—beguiled, deluded, unconscious of the flight of time, +serenely happy. Many come for a season, and wake up after five or six +years to find it is now their home. "There seems to exist in this +country a something which cheats the senses; whether it be in the air, +the sunshine, or in the ocean breeze, or in all three combined, I cannot +say. Certainly the climate is not the home-made common-sense article of +the anti-Rocky Mountain States; and unreality is thrown round life—all +walk and work in a dream."</p> + +<p>At Coronado Beach one rushes out after breakfast for an all-day +excursion or morning tramp; here one sits and sits, always intending to +go somewhere or do something, until the pile of unanswered letters +accumulates and the projected trips weary one in a dim perspective. It +is all so beautiful, so new, so wonderful! San Diego is the Naples of +America, with the San Jacinto Mountains for a background and the blue +sunlit bay to gaze upon, and one of the finest harbors in the world. Yet +with all this, few have the energy even to go a-fishing.</p> + +<p>Now, as a truthful "tourist," I must admit that in the winter there are +many days when the sun does not shine, and the rainy season is not +altogether cheerful for the invalid and the stranger. Sunshine, glorious +golden sunshine, is what we want all the time; but we do not get it. I +noticed that during the heavy rains the invalids retired to their rooms, +overcome by the chill and dampness, and some were seriously ill. But +then they would have been in their graves if they had remained in the +East. There are many charming people residing in San Diego, well, happy, +useful, who know they can never safely return to their old homes.</p> + +<p>There has been such a rosy glamour thrown over southern California by +enthusiastic romancers that many are disappointed when they fail to find +an absolute Paradise.</p> + +<p>Humboldt said of California: "The sky is constantly serene and of a deep +blue, and without a cloud; and should any clouds appear for a moment at +the setting of the sun, they display the most beautiful shades of +violet, purple, and green."<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">1</a></p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">1</span></a> Humboldt had never been in Alta California, and procured +this information in Mexico or Spain.</p></div> + +<p>Now, after reading that, a real rainy day, when the water leaks through +the roof and beats in at the doors, makes a depressed invalid feel like +a drenched fowl standing forlornly on one leg in the midst of a New +England storm. With snow-covered mountains on one side and the ocean +with its heavy fogs on the other, and the tedious rain pouring down with +gloomy persistence, and consumptives coughing violently, and physicians +hurrying in to attend to a sudden hemorrhage or heart-failure, the scene +is not wholly gay and inspiriting. But when the sun comes forth again +and the flowers (that look to me a little tired of blooming all the +time) brighten up with fresh washed faces, and all vegetation rejoices +and you can almost see things grow, and the waves dance and glitter, and +the mountains no longer look cold and threatening but seem like painted +scenery, <i>a la</i> Bierstadt, hung up for our admiration, and the valleys +breathe the spicy fragrance of orange blossoms, we are once more happy, +and ready to rave a little ourselves over the much-talked-of "bay 'n' +climate." But there are dangers even on the sunniest day. I know a +young physician who came this year on a semi-professional tour, to try +the effects of inhalations on tuberculosis, and it was so delightfully +warm that he straightway took off his flannels, was careless about night +air, and was down with pneumonia.</p> + +<p>The tourist or traveller who writes of San Diego usually knows nothing +of it but a week or two in winter or early spring.</p> + +<p>Southern California has fifty-two weeks in the year, and for two thirds +of this time the weather is superb.</p> + +<p>I can imagine even a mission Indian grunting and complaining if taken to +our part of the country in the midst of a week's storm. We flee from +deadly horrors of climate to be fastidiously critical. If, in midsummer, +sweltering sufferers in New York or Chicago could be transported to this +land they would not hurry away. The heat is rarely above eighty-five +degrees, and nearly always mitigated by a refreshing breeze from the +bay. I am assured that there have not been five nights in as many years +when one or more blankets have not been necessary for comfort. In summer +everything is serene. No rain, no thunder-storms, no hail, or +water-spouts. (The dust pest is never spoken of!) The picnic can be +arranged three weeks ahead without an anxious thought about the weather. +The summer sunsets are marvellously beautiful.</p> + +<p>One must summer and winter here before he can judge fairly, and the +hyper-sensitive should tarry in New Mexico or in the desert until +spring. I believe that rheumatic or neuralgic invalids should avoid the +damp resorts to which they are constantly flocking only to be +dissatisfied. Every sort of climate can be found in the State, so that +no one has the right to grumble.</p> + +<p>Do not take off flannels, although the perspiration does trickle down +the side of your face as you sit in the sun. A fur cape is always needed +to protect one shoulder from a chilling breeze while the other side is +toasted. It is not safe for new-comers to be out-of-doors after four or +five o'clock in the afternoon, nor must they ride in open cars except +in the middle of the day. These innocent diversions give the doctors +their support.</p> + +<p>Bill Nye, with his usual good sense, refused to drive in a pouring rain +to view the scenery and orchards when visiting San Diego in March, and +says: "Orange orchards are rare and beautiful sights, but when I can sit +in this warm room, gathered about a big coal fire, and see miles of them +from the window, why should I put on my fur overcoat and a mackintosh in +order to freeze and cry out with assumed delight every half-mile while I +gradually get Pomona of the lungs?"</p> + +<p>There are many places worth visiting if you can rouse yourselves for the +effort. Point Loma, twelve miles distant, gives a wonderful view, one of +the finest in the world. I warrant you will be so famished on arriving +that you will empty every lunch-basket before attending to the outlook. +National City, Sweet Water Dam, Tia Juana (Aunt Jane), La Jolla—you +will hear of all these. I have tried them and will report.</p> + +<p>The Kimball brothers, Warren and Frank, who came from New Hampshire +twenty-five years ago and devoted their energies to planting orchards of +oranges, lemons, and olives, have made the desert bloom, and found the +business most profitable. You will like to watch the processes of +pickling olives and pressing out the clear amber oil, which is now used +by consumptives in preference to the cod-liver oil. Many are rubbed with +it daily for increasing flesh. It is delicious for the table, but the +profits are small, as cotton-seed oil is much cheaper. Lemons pay better +than oranges, Mr. Kimball tells me. Mrs. Flora Kimball has worked side +by side with her husband, who is an enthusiast for the rights of woman. +She is progressive, and ready to help in every good work, with great +executive ability and a hearty appreciation of any good quality in +others.</p> + +<p>It does not pay to take the trip to Mexico if time is limited, there is +so little of Mexico in it. After leaving the train and getting into an +omnibus, the voluble darkey in charge soon shouts out, "We are now +crossing the line," but as no difference of scene is observed, it is not +deeply impressive. One young fellow got out and jumped back and forth +over the line, so that if asked on his return if he had been to Mexico +he could conscientiously answer, "Oh yes, many times." We were then +taken to the custom-house, where we mailed some hastily scribbled +letters for the sake of using a Mexican stamp,—some preferred it +stamped on a handkerchief. And near by is the curio store, where you +find the same things which are seen everywhere, and where you will +doubtless buy a lot of stuff and be sorry for it. But whatever other +folly you may be led into, let me implore you to wholly abstain from +that deadly concoction, the Mexican <i>tamale</i>. Ugh! I can taste mine now.</p> + +<p>A <i>tamale</i> is a curious and dubious combination of chicken hash, meal, +olives, red pepper, and I know not what, enclosed in a corn-husk, +steamed until furiously hot, and then offered for sale by Mexicans in +such a sweet, appealing way that few can resist the novelty. It has a +more uncertain pedigree than the sausage, and its effects are serious.</p> + +<p>A friend of mine tasted a small portion of one late at night. It was +later before she could sleep, and then terrible nightmares intruded upon +her slumber. Next morning she looked so ill and enfeebled, so unlike her +rosy self, that we begged to know the cause. The tale was thrilling. She +thought a civil war had broken out and she could not telegraph to her +distant spouse. The agony was intense. She must go to him with her five +children, and at once. They climbed mountains, tumbled into cañons, were +arrested in their progress by cataracts and wild storms, and even the +hostile Indian appeared in full war-paint at a point above. This awoke +her, only to fall into another horrible situation. An old lover suddenly +returned, tried to approach her; she screamed, "I am now a married +woman!"—he lifted his revolver, and once again she returned to +consciousness and the <i>tamale</i>, and brandy, and Brown's Jamaica ginger. +If she had eaten half the <i>tamale</i> the pistol would doubtless have +completed its deadly work. A kind old gentleman of our party bought a +dozen to treat us all. We were obliged to refuse, and it was amusing to +watch him in his endeavor to get rid of them. At last he made several +journeys to the car door, throwing out a few each trip in a solemn way. +He didn't want to hurt the feelings of the natives by casting them all +out at once.</p> + +<p>Sweet Water Dam is a triumph of engineering, one of the largest dams in +the world, holding six million gallons of water, used for irrigating +ranches in Sweet Water Valley; and at La Jolla you will find pretty +shells and clamber down to the caves. There the stones are slippery, and +an absorbing flirtation should be resisted, as the tide often intrudes +most unexpectedly, and in dangerous haste. Besides the caves the +attractions are the fishing and the kelp beds. These kelp beds form a +submarine garden, and the water is so clear that one can see beautiful +plants, fish, etc., at forty or fifty feet below the sea surface—not +unlike the famous sea-gardens at Nassau in the Bahamas. There is a good +hotel, open the year round.</p> + +<p>Lakeside is a quiet inland retreat twenty-two miles from San Diego, +where many go for a little excursion and change of air. The Lakeside +Hotel has seventy large rooms and complete appointments. The table is +supplied with plenty of milk and <i>real</i> cream from their own cows, +vegetables and fruit from the neighboring ranches, game in its season, +shot on the lake near by, and, in the valleys, meats from homegrown +stock. The guests who are not too invalidish often go out for long +drives, never forgetting the lunch-baskets. One day we try the Alpine +stage. Winding across the mesa at the rear of the hotel, we have a +lovely view of the little lake half hidden in the trees, reflecting in +its quiet surface the mountains that rise up beyond it. Gradually +climbing upward, we come to a tract of land that is watered by the +Flume. To our surprise we learn that this is practically frostless, and +that since this has been discovered many young orchards of oranges and +lemons have been planted. The red mesa land on the side-hills will not +be touched by the frosts of a cold night when the valley at its foot +will have enough frost to kill all tender growth. This is a new +discovery, and has placed thousands of acres on the market as suitable +for the culture of citrus fruits. Do you notice how the appearance of +the landscape is changing? The nearer hills are much sharper and +steeper, and their sides are studded by great boulders. There are stone +walls, and here and there are great flocks of sheep. The horses stop of +their own accord at a lovely spot where they are used to getting a drink +of cool spring water. Did any ever taste quite so good as that drunk +from an old dipper after a long warm drive? The live-oaks and sycamores +look too inviting to be resisted, and we get out to explore while the +horses are resting. Underneath the evergreen shade we pick up some of +the large pointed acorns and carry them away as souvenirs. This would be +a delightful spot for a picnic, but we have many miles before us and +must go on. In a few more miles we reach a little town known as +"Alpine." In the distance looms the Viejas, and if any of the party wish +to travel over a grade, now is the opportunity. The top of the grade +brings us to a lovely view. Eastward is an unbroken chain of +mountain-peaks, from whose summits may be seen the broad Pacific on one +side and the Colorado Desert on the other.</p> + +<p>One of the favorite drives is into the Monte. This is a large park or +tract of a thousand acres. On each side the hills rise, and in front El +Cajon shows new beauties with every step of the way. Great live-oaks +with enormous trunks, ancient sycamores, elders, and willows make in +some spots a dense shade. On the edge of the hillsides the Flume may be +seen, which furnishes many ranches as well as the city of San Diego with +the purest mountain water. Underneath the trees and up on the rocks the +lover of flowers and ferns will scramble. There are the dainty +forget-me-nots, tiny flowers of starry white, flowers of pale orange +with centres of deep maroon, the wild galliardia, and the wild peony +with its variegated leaves. Many other delicate blossoms which we cannot +stop to describe are there too. And the ferns! All kinds may be found +by the initiated, and many are close at hand. The fern lined with gold +or with silver, the running ferns, the ferns of lace-like fineness, the +ferns as soft as velvet, all growing in the greatest profusion. And each +day of the week a different drive and new delights.</p> + +<p>There is the valley of El Cajon ("the box"), which should be visited in +grape-picking time. The great Boston ranch alone employs three hundred +and twenty-five pickers. Men, women, children, all busy, and the grapes +when just turned are sweet, spicy, and delicious, making the air +fragrant. This valley is dotted with handsome villas and prosperous +ranches. The range of mountains which looms up before us from the +veranda of the hotel is not yet dignified by a name, yet it is more +imposing than the White Mountains, and in the distance we see old +Cuyamaca, nearly seven thousand feet high. But we must take the next +train for San Diego, or this chapter will be a volume in itself. And I +have not even alluded to the "Great Back Country."</p> + +<p>The founder of San Diego is still living, still hopeful, still young at +heart. "Father" Horton, the typical pioneer, deserves more honors than +he has yet received. Coming from Connecticut to California in 1851, he +soon made a small fortune in mining, buying and selling gold-dust, and +providing the diggers with ice and water for their work. He rode over +the country in those lawless times selling the precious dust disguised +as a poverty-stricken good-for-naught, with trusty revolver always in +his right hand on the pommel of the saddle—the handsome green saddle +covered with an old potato sack. In this way he evaded the very men who +had been on his track for weeks. Once he came near capture. He passed a +bad-looking lot of horsemen, one of whom had a deep red scar the whole +length of his cheek. He got by safely, but one, looking round, +exclaimed, "My God! That's Horton! I see the green saddle." And back +they dashed to kill him and gain his treasure, but he escaped into a +cañon, and they lost their one chance.</p> + +<p>At another time he had $3500 in gold in his belt, and at a tavern of +poor repute he could hear through cracks in the floor of his bedroom the +gamblers below laughing about the old greenhorn above who had his supper +of mush and milk and had asked for a lock on his door.</p> + +<p>Returning East <i>via</i> Panama in 1856, he proved himself a hero and a +soldier during the terrible riot there. The natives, angry because they +had lost the money they used to make in transporting passengers, +attacked the foreigners, killing and plundering all who came in their +way, the police turning traitors and aiding them. The hotel was +attacked, and among all the passengers only three were armed. Mr. Horton +and these two young men stood at the top of the stairs and shot all who +tried to get nearer. When they fell back eight rioters were dead and +others wounded. Then Mr. Horton formed the two hundred passengers in +order and marched them off to a lighter, and put them aboard the +steamer. About half this number wanted to go on to San Francisco, but +had lost all their money and baggage. Mr. Ralston and Mr. Horton helped +many to pay their passage, but not one person was ever heard of again, +not one cent was returned, not even one word of gratitude or good +intentions.</p> + +<p>Up to the period which is known as the boom of 1870-71, the history of +San Diego was so interwoven and closely connected with the life of Mr. +Horton that the story of one is inseparable from that of the other.</p> + +<p>When Mr. Horton came from San Francisco to see the wonderful harbor +described by friends, there was nothing there but two old buildings, the +barren hillsides, and the sheep pastures.</p> + +<p>His gifts to the city and to individuals amount to a present valuation +of over a million of dollars. Of the nine hundred acres of land which he +originally bought (a part of the Mexican grant) at twenty-seven cents an +acre, he owns but little.</p> + +<p>But it is to his common sense, foresight, and business ability that the +present city owes much of its success; and it is interesting to hear him +tell of exciting adventures in "Poker Flat," and other places which Bret +Harte has worked up so successfully.</p> + +<p>Lieut. George H. Derby is amusingly associated with "Old Town," the +former San Diego, three miles from the present city. He had offended +Jefferson Davis, then Secretary of War, by his irreverent wit, and was +punished by exile to this then almost unknown region, which he called +"Sandy Ague," chiefly inhabited by the flea, the horned toad, and the +rattlesnake. Mr. Ames, of the <i>Herald</i>, a democratic paper, asked Derby, +a stanch whig, to occupy the editorial chair during a brief absence. He +did so, changing its politics at once, and furnishing funny articles +which later appeared as "Phoenixiana," and ranked him with Artemus Ward +as a genuine American humorist. Here is his closing paragraph after +those preposterous somersaults and daring pranks as editor <i>pro tem</i>:</p> + +<p>"Very little news will be found in the <i>Herald</i> this week; the fact is, +there never is much news in it, and it is very well that it is so; the +climate here is so delightful that residents in the enjoyment of their +<i>dolce far niente</i> care very little about what is going on elsewhere, +and residents of other places care very little about what is going on +in San Diego, so all parties are likely to be gratified with the little +paper, 'and long may it wave.'"</p> + +<p>The present city has eighteen thousand inhabitants, twenty-three church +organizations, remarkably fine schools, a handsome opera-house, broad +asphalt pavements, electric lights, electric and cable cars,—a compact, +well-built city, from the fine homes on the Heights to the business +portion near the water.</p> + +<p>In regard to society, I find that the "best society" is much the same +all over the civilized world. Accomplished, cultured, well-bred men and +women are found in every town and city in California. And distance from +metropolitan privileges makes people more independent, better able to +entertain themselves and their guests, more eagerly appreciative of the +best in every direction.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"O city reflecting thy might from the sea,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There is grandeur and power in the future for thee,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whose flower-broidered garments the soft billows lave,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thy brow on the hillside, thy feet in the wave."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Many of San Diego's guests have no idea of her at her best. The majority +of winter tourists leave California just as Mother Nature braces up to +do her best with wild-flowers, blossoming orchards, and waving +grain-fields. The summers are really more enjoyable than the winters. +When the Nicaragua Canal is completed it will be a pleasant trip to San +Diego from any Atlantic seaport. A railroad to Phoenix, Arizona, <i>via</i> +Yuma, will allow the melting, panting, gasping inhabitants of New Mexico +and Arizona an opportunity to get into a delightfully cool climate.</p> + + +<p style="text-align: center;">THE INDIANS AND THE MISSION FATHERS.</p> + +<p>As for Indians, I have never seen such Indians as Helen Hunt Jackson +depicts so lovingly. I have never seen any one who has seen one. They +existed in her imagination only, as did Fenimore Cooper's noble redmen +of the forest solely in his fancy. Both have given us delightful novels, +and we are grateful.</p> + +<p>The repulsive stolid creatures I have seen at stations, with sullen +stare, long be-vermined locks, and filthy blankets full of fleas, are +possibly not a fair representation of the remnants of the race. They +have been unfairly dealt with. I am glad they can be educated and +improved. They seem to need it. After reading "Ramona" and Mrs. +Jackson's touching article on the "Mission Indians in California," and +then looking over the opinions of honest writers of a previous +generation regarding the Indians, it is more puzzling than ever. The +following criticisms apply exclusively to the Southern Californian +tribes.</p> + +<p>Mr. Robinson, after a twenty years' residence among them, said: "The +Indian of California is a species of monkey; he imitates and copies +white men, but selects vice in preference to virtue. He is hypocritical +and treacherous, never looks at any one in conversation, but has a +wandering, malicious gaze. Truth is not in him."</p> + +<p>And the next testimony is from an Indian curate: "The Indians lead a +life of indolence rather than devote themselves to the enlightening of +their souls with ideas of civilization and cultivation; it is repugnant +to their feelings, which have become vitiated by the unrestricted +customs among them. Their inclination to possess themselves of the +property of others is unbounded. Their hypocrisy when they pray is as +much to be feared as their insolence when in tumultuous disorder. They +are never grateful for any benefit, nor do they pardon an injury, and +they never proffer civilities, unless to accomplish some interested +motive. They are ready to expose themselves to the greatest danger to +satisfy their predominant passions. The future from them is ever veiled +by the present. Their inconstancy and want of confidence deprives them +of friends, and he who by deception holds them in subjection may reduce +them to almost abject slavery."</p> + +<p>Dana, speaking of the language of the Californian Indians, described it +as "brutish" and "a complete slabber."</p> + +<p>The missionary Fathers did their best to teach and convert them, and the +missions must be spoken of. So we will go back a little.</p> + +<p>No one knows how California was so named. St. Diego was the patron saint +of Spain. St. Francis, who founded the Franciscan order, was a gay young +Italian, who after conversion led a life of mortification and extreme +self-denial, tramped about like a beggar, scourged himself, slept on +ground, rolled in snow to subdue the flesh, fasted, wept until he was +almost blind, saw visions, like all other great religious leaders, +received messages directly from Christ, and was at last rewarded with +the stigmata (the marks of the crucifix on his body), and commemoration +after death.</p> + +<p>Father Junipero, of this order, was appointed presiding missionary of +California, and arrived July, 1769, erected a great cross on the coast, +celebrated mass, and commenced his work. Like St. Francis, he was +earnest, devout, pure, and self-sacrificing, blessed with wonderful +magnetism. Once, while exhorting his hearers to repent, he scourged his +own shoulders so unmercifully with a chain that his audience shuddered +and wept; and one man, overcome by emotion, rushed to the pulpit, +secured the chain, and, disrobing, flogged himself to death. This holy +Father believed that he was especially protected by Heaven, and that +once, when journeying on a desolate road, he was hospitably entertained +by the Holy Family.</p> + +<p>He said, "I have placed my faith in God, and trust in His goodness to +plant the standard of the holy cross not only at San Diego, but even as +far as Monterey."</p> + +<p>And this was done in less than ten years, but with many discouragements.</p> + +<p>The first Indian who was induced to bring his baby for baptism got +frightened, and dashed away, taking, however, the handsome piece of +cloth which had been wrapped around the child for the ceremony.</p> + +<p>Next there was an attack with arrows; in less than a month serious +fighting followed; and later more than one thousand Indians joined in +the attack. One priest was killed and all inhabitants of the mission +more or less wounded, and the mission itself was burned. The present +ruins are the "new" buildings on the site of the old, completed in 1784, +the walls of adobe four feet thick, the doorways and windows of burnt +tiles. These half-cylindrical plates of hard-burnt clay were used to +protect the inmates from the sun and the burning arrows of the Indians, +and are now greatly valued as relics.</p> + +<p>In front is the orchard of three hundred olive trees, more than a +century old, still bearing a full crop, and likely to do so for +centuries to come. As the Indians disliked work much, and church +services more, they were encouraged in both matters by rather forcible +means, as the Irishman "enticed" the pig into his pen with a pitchfork. +We "tourists" who, dismounting from our carriages, view with sentimental +reverence the picturesque ruins, the crumbling arches, the heavy bells +now silent but mutely telling a wondrous story of the past, and tiptoe +quietly through the damp interiors, gazing at pictures of saints and of +hell and paradise, dropping our coins into the box at the door, and +going out duly impressed to admire the architecture or the carving, or +the general fine effect against the sky of fleckless blue—we picture +these sable neophytes coming gladly, bowing in devout homage, delighted +to learn of God and Duty, and cheerfully coöperating with the good +priests who had come so far to teach them. In 1827 the San Diego mission +had within its boundaries an Indian population of 1500, 10,000 head of +cattle, 17,000 sheep, and more than 1000 horses. But Mr. Robinson tells +us that the Indians were dragged to service, were punished and chained +if they tried to escape, and that it was not unusual to see numbers of +them driven along by a leader and forced with a whip-lash into the doors +of the sanctuary.</p> + +<p>It is said that they were literally enslaved and scared into submission +by dreadful pictures of hell and fear of everlasting torment. After +church they would gamble, and they often lost everything, even wives and +children. They were low, brutal, unintelligent, with an exceedingly +limited vocabulary and an unbounded appetite. A man is as he eats, and, +as some one says, "If a man eats peanuts he will think peanuts."</p> + +<p>"There was nothing that could be swallowed and digested which the San +Diego Indian would not eat. Snakes, half roasted and even raw, were +toothsome dainties. The horned toad and the lizard had favorite places +at each repast. Human parasites were not refused, and mice, gophers, +bats, caterpillars, worms, entrails, and even carrion, were consumed +with a greed that did not stop at pounds. Hittel says that twenty-four +pounds of meat in a day was not too much for a Californian Indian, and +Baegart mentions the case of one native who ate seventeen watermelons at +a sitting. The smoking of wild tobacco was carried on to equal excess."</p> + +<p>The saintly Fathers deserve unlimited praise for making them accomplish +so much and behave as well as they did. Those New Englanders who +criticise them as severe in discipline must remember that at the same +period our ancestors were persecuting Quakers and burning witches. The +beautiful hospitality of these early priests should also be mentioned.</p> + +<p>Alfred Robinson described a miracle play which he saw performed at San +Diego at Christmas, in 1830, as akin to the miracle plays of mediæval +Europe. The actors took the part of Gabriel, Lucifer, shepherds, a +hermit, and Bartolo, a lazy vagabond who was the clown and furnished the +element of comedy: the whole interspersed with songs and incidents +better adapted to the stage than to the church.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<h3>EN ROUTE TO LOS ANGELES.</h3> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Bless me, this is pleasant,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Riding on the rail!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>On the Surf Line from San Diego to Los Angeles, a seventy-mile run along +the coast, there is so much to see, admire, and think about, that the +time passes rapidly without napping or nodding. Take a chair seat on the +left of car—the ocean side—and enjoy the panoramic view from the +window: the broad expanse of the Pacific, its long curling breakers, the +seals and porpoises tumbling about in clumsy frolics, the graceful gulls +circling above them, the picturesque cañons, and the flocks of birds +starting from the ground, frightened by our approach. This we watch for +more than an hour; then the scene changes, and, leaving the water, we +have glimpses of wondrous carpets of wild-flowers, the golden poppy +predominant, miles of brilliant green on either hand, peeps at the three +missions, the groves at Orange, the town of Santa Ana, and Anaheim, the +parent colony, the first of all the irrigated settlements of Southern +California, now a wealthy city.</p> + +<p>The missions are always interesting. San Juan Capistrano was seriously +injured by an earthquake in 1812; the tower was shaken so severely that +it toppled over during morning mass, killing thirty of the worshippers, +the priests escaping through the sacristy. It was the latest and +costliest of the missions. "Its broken olive mill and crumbling +dove-cote, and the spacious weed-grown courts and corridors, are +pathetic witnesses to the grandeur of the plans and purposes of the +founders, and also of the rapidity with which nature effaces the noblest +works of human hands."</p> + +<p>But San Luis Rey is in good condition, having been restored to something +of its original beauty, and recently re-dedicated. The walled +enclosures once contained fifty-six acres, six being covered by the +sacred edifice, its arched colonnades, and the cloisters, in which the +Fathers lived, surrounded by three thousand baptized savages. Mrs. +Jeanne C. Carr quotes a stage-driver with whom she talked on the box as +saying: "Ye see, ma'am, what them old padders didn't know 'bout findin' +work for their subjicks and pervidin' for the saints 'n' angels, not to +say therselves, wa'n't wuth knowin'. They carried on all kinds o' +bizness. Meat was plenty, keepin' an' vittles was to be had at all the +missions an' ranches too, jes' by settin' round. The pastures and hills +was alive with horses and cattle, an' hides an' taller was their coin. +They cured and stacked the hides, dug holes in stiff ground, an' run the +taller into 'em; it kep' sweet until a ship laid up to Capistrano, <i>then +that taller turned into gold</i>. They could load up a big ship in a single +day, they had so many Indians to help." And he proceeded to tell of his +own lucky find: "A lot of that holy taller was lost 'n' fergot, nobuddy +knows how many years. One night I went up into the grass beyant the +mission to stake out my hosses; an' when I druv the fust stake it went +way deawn, like 'twas in soft mud. I jes' yanked it up: half on 't was +kivered with grease. The evening was cool, but the day had been brilin', +an' now mebbe ye kin guess how I found my taller mine. 'Twas a leetle +mouldy on top, but the heft on 't was hard,—a reg'lar bonanzy fer a +stage-driver."</p> + +<p>It may seem irreverent to introduce this droll fellow in sharp contrast +with the beautiful ruin, full of the most cherished memories of old +Spain, but reality often gives romance a hard jar. It is pleasant to +know that the expelled Franciscan order has just returned to California, +and that San Luis Rey is now occupied. It is worth making the trip to +San Juan to see the old bells struck, as in former times, by a rope +attached to the clapper. They have different tones, and how eloquently +they speak to us. These missions along the coast and a line farther +inland are the only real ruins that we have in America, and must be +preserved, whether as a matter of sentiment or money, and in some way +protected from the vandals who think it jolly fun to lug off the old red +tiles, or even the stone bowl for holy water—anything they can steal. +At San Juan the plaster statues have been disgracefully mutilated by +relic-hunters and thoughtless visitors. Eyes have been picked out, noses +cut off, fingers carried away, and the altar-cloths everywhere have been +slashed at the corners.</p> + +<p>A society has been formed to try to save them, and one learned and +enthusiastic mission lover proposes to revive the old Camino del Rey, or +King's Highway. "What could not the drive from San Diego to Sonoma be +made if the State once roused herself to make it? Planted and watered +and owned as an illustration of forestry, why should it not also as a +route of pilgrimage rank with that to Canterbury or Cologne on the +Rhine? The Franciscans have given to California a nomenclature which +connects them and us permanently with what was great in their +contemporary history, while we preserve daily upon our lips the names of +the great chiefs of their own order."</p> + +<p>But where am I? Those mouldering walls led me into a reverie. Speaking +of "ruins" reminds me of a Frenchman who called on the poet Longfellow +in his old age and explained his visit in this way: "Sare, you 'ave no +ruins in dis country, so I 'ave come to see you."</p> + +<p>The cactus hedge around each mission to keep the cattle in, and possibly +the hostile Indians out, must have been effective. We see now and then a +little that has survived. This makes me think of a curious bird I +noticed in my drives at San Diego, the roadrunner, classed with the +cuckoo. It has various names, the chaparral-cock, the ground-cuckoo, the +prairie-cock, paisano, and worst of all, in classic nomenclature, the +<i>Geococcyx californianus</i>.</p> + +<p>It keeps on the ground most of the time, and can run with such swiftness +that it cannot be easily overtaken by horse and hounds. It has a tail +longer than its body, which it bears erect. It kills beetles, toads, +birds, and mice, but has a special dislike for the rattlesnake, and +often meets him and beats him in fair combat. When it finds one sleeping +or torpid it makes a circle of cactus thorns around him so he cannot +escape—for "future reference," as my driver said.</p> + +<p>This thorny circle is akin to the lariat made of horsehair, the ends +sticking out roughly all around, with which the Indian used to encircle +himself before going to sleep, as a protection from the rattlesnake, who +could not cross it. But here we are at Los Angeles. Hear the bawling +cabbies: "This way for The Westminster!" "Hollenbeck Hotel!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<h3>LOS ANGELES AND ROUND ABOUT.</h3> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"O southland! O dreamland! with cycles of green;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">O moonlight enchanted by mocking-bird's song;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cool sea winds, fair mountains, the fruit-lands between,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The pepper tree's shade, and the sunny days long."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Los Angeles is the chief city of Southern California, and truly +venerable in comparison with most places in the State—founded in 1781, +now one hundred and twelve years old. Its full name, "Nuestra Senora la +Reina de los Angeles," "musical as a chime of bells," would hardly do in +these days, and "The City of the Angels," as it is sometimes called, +scarcely suits the present big business-y place, which was started by +those shrewd old padres when everything west of the Alleghanies was an +almost unknown region, and Chicago and St. Louis were not thought of. +These Fathers were far-sighted fellows, with a keen eye for the +beautiful, sure to secure good soil, plenty of water, and fine scenery +for a settlement. Next came the Hispano-American era of adobe, +stage-coaches, and mule teams, now replaced by the purely American +possessions, with brick, stone, vestibule trains, and all the wonders of +electricity. It is now a commercial centre, a railroad terminal, with +one hundred miles of street-car track within the city limits, carrying +twelve million passengers yearly. It has outgrown the original grant of +six miles square, and has a city limit, and the first street traversed +this square diagonally. It lies on the west bank of the Los Angeles +River, one of those peculiar streams which hides itself half the year +only to burst forth in the spring in a most assertive manner. There are +fine public buildings, fifty-seven churches, to suit all shades of +religious belief, two handsome theatres, several parks, and long streets +showing homes and grounds comparing favorably with the best environs of +Eastern cities. It is well to drive through Adams and Figueroa streets +before you leave. There are no attractive hotels at present; but one is +so greatly needed and desired that it will soon be designed and +realized.</p> + +<p>Madame de Staël was right when she said she greatly preferred meeting +interesting men and women to admiring places or scenery. Among my +pleasantest memories of Los Angeles are my visits to Madame Fremont in +her pretty red cottage, presented by loving friends. It is a privilege +to meet such a clever, versatile woman. Her conversation flashes with +epigrams and pithy sayings, and her heart is almost as young as when it +was captured by the dashing "Pathfinder."</p> + +<p>I believe there are men still existing who keep up the old absurd +fallacy that women are deficient in wit and humor! She would easily +convert all such.</p> + +<p>The Coronels, to whom Mrs. Jackson was so indebted and of whom she wrote +so appreciatively, are still in the same home, cherishing her memory +most fondly, her photograph being placed in a shrine where the +sweet-faced madame kneels daily, and her books and knick-knacks are +preserved as precious souvenirs.</p> + +<p>Don Antonio Coronel is truly a most interesting personage, the last +specimen of the grand old Spanish régime. His father was the first +schoolmaster in California, and the son has in his possession the first +schoolbook printed on this coast, at Monterey in 1835, a small +catechism; also the first book printed in California, a tiny volume +dated 1833, the father having brought the type from Spain.</p> + +<p>I was taken to the basement to see a rare collection of antiquities. In +one corner is a cannon made in 1710, and brought by Junipero Serra. +Ranged on shelves is a collection such as can be found nowhere else, of +great value: strange stone idols, a few specimens of the famous +iridescent pottery, queer ornaments, toys, and relics. In another corner +see the firearms and weapons of long ago: old flintlocks, muskets, +Spanish bayonets, crossbows, and spears. There are coins, laces, +baskets, toys, skulls, scalps, and a sombrero with two long red +pennons, on which each feather represents a human scalp. Upstairs there +are early specimens of Mexican art; one of the oldest pictures of +Junipero Serra; groups in clay modelled by the Dona Mariana of Mexican +scenes; feather pictures made from the plumage of gorgeous birds—too +much to remember or describe here. But I do believe that if asked to say +what they valued most, they would point to the little wooden table where +their dear friend sat when she wrote the first pages of "Ramona."</p> + +<p>For the stranger Los Angeles is the place to go to to see a new play, or +marvel at the display of fruits seen at a citrus fair—forts made of +thousands of oranges, and railroad stations and crowns of lemons, +etc.—and admire a carnival of flowers, or for a day's shopping; but +there are better spots in which to remain. I found the night air +extremely unpleasant last winter, and after hearing from a veracious +druggist, to whom I applied for a gargle, that there was an epidemic of +grip in the city, and that many died of pneumonia and that a small +majority of the invalids got well, I packed my trunk hastily and started +for Pasadena.</p> + +<p>Those who live in the city and those who do not dislike raw, bracing +winds from the ocean pronounce Los Angeles to be the <i>only</i> place worth +living in in all Southern California. Each place has its supporters +ignoring all other attractions, and absolutely opposite accounts of the +weather have been seriously given me by visitors to each. For those who +must be "high and dry" to improve, the rainy season is certainly unsafe.</p> + +<p>Los Angeles is also a place to go from to the beach at Santa Monica, and +Redondo, or that wondrous island, "Santa Catalina," which has been +described by Mr. C. F. Holder in the <i>Californian</i> so enthusiastically +that I should think the "Isle of Summer" could not receive all who would +unite to share his raptures—with a climate nearer to absolute +perfection than any land, so near all the conveniences of civilization, +and everything else that can be desired. His first jew-fish or black +sea-bass weighed 342½ pounds, and a dozen other varieties are gamy and +plentiful; fine sport with the rifle in the upland region, wealth of +verdure along the trail; below, good hotel, beaches, bathing, evening +concerts—"the true land of sweet idleness, where one can drift around +with all nature to entertain." To be strictly truthful, I must add that +the hotel was built just over an old Indian burying-ground, therefore +cases of typhoid fever are not unknown.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<h3>PASADENA.</h3> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"If there be an Elysium upon earth,<br /></span> +<span class="i4">It is this, it is this."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>For my own taste, I prefer Pasadena, the "Crown of the Valley"—nine +miles from Los Angeles, but eight hundred feet higher and with much +drier air, at the foot of the Sierra Madre range, in the beauteous San +Gabriel Valley. Yes, Pasadena seems to me as near Eden as can be found +by mortal man.</p> + +<p>Columbus in a letter to Ferdinand and Isabella said, "I believe that if +I should pass under the equator in arriving at this higher region of +which I speak, I should find there a milder temperature and a diversity +in the stars and in the waters.... I am convinced that there is the +Terrestrial Paradise."</p> + +<p>Poor persecuted Columbus! I wish he could have once seen Pasadena, the +very spot he dreamed of. Can I now write calmly, critically, judicially +of what I see, enjoy, admire and wonder over? If I succeed it will be +what no one else has done. I was here last year and gave my impressions +then, which are only strengthened by a second visit, so that I will +quote my own words, which read like the veriest gush, but are absolutely +true, came straight from my heart, and, after all, didn't half tell the +story.</p> + +<p>I am fascinated and enthralled by your sun-kissed, rose-embowered, +semi-tropical summer-land of Hellenic sky and hills of Hymettus, with +its paradoxical antitheses: of flowers and flannels; strawberries and +sealskin sacks; open fires with open windows; snow-capped mountains and +orange blossoms; winter looking down upon summer—a topsy-turvy land, +where you dig for your wood and climb for your coal; where water-pipes +are laid above ground, with no fear of Jack Frost, and your principal +rivers flow bottom side up and invisible most of the time; where the +boys climb up hill on burros and slide down hills on wheels; where the +trees are green all the year, and you go outdoors in December to get +warm; where squirrels live in the ground with owls for chums, while rats +build in the trees, and where water runs up hill; where anything +unpleasant, from a seismic disturbance to mosquitoes in March, is +"exceptional" and surprising. A land where there are no seasons, but +where sunshine and shade are so distinctly marked that one can be easily +half baked on one side and dangerously chilled on the other.</p> + +<p>Then the Climate—spell it with a capital, and then try to think of an +adjective worthy to precede it. Glorious! Delicious! Incomparable! +Paradisaical!!! To a tenderfoot straight from New Hampshire, where we +have nine months of winter and three of pretty cold weather, where we +have absolutely but three months that are free from frost, this seems +like enchanted ground.</p> + +<p>A climate warm, with a constant refreshing coolness in its heart; cool, +with a latent vivifying warmth forever peeping out of its coat-tail +pocket.</p> + +<p>June does not define it, nor September. It has no synonym, for there is +nothing like it. I am glad that I have lived to see hedges of +heliotrope, of geraniums and calla-lilies. I remember, in contrast, +solitary calla plants that I have nursed with care all winter in hopes +of one blossom for Easter. And I do not feel sure that I can ever tear +myself away. I am reminded of good old Dr. Watts, who was invited by +Lady Abney to pass a fortnight at her home, and remained for forty +years.</p> + +<p>Here we all unconsciously eat the lotus in some occult fashion, are +straightway bewitched and held willing captives. I have looked up the +lotus, about which so much is said or sung and so little definitely +known, and find it is a prickly shrub of Africa, bearing a fruit of a +sweet taste, and the early Greeks knew all about its power. Homer in the +Odyssey says that whoever ate of the fruit wished never to depart nor +again to see his native land. Many of Ulysses' sailors ate this fruit, +and lost all desire for home.</p> + +<p>The last letter received by me from New Hampshire, April 3d, begins in +this way: "It is like the middle of winter here, good sleighing and +still very cold." And then comes a sad series of announcements of +sickness and deaths caused by the protracted rigors of the season. And +here, at the same date, all the glories of the spring, which far exceeds +our summer—Spanish breezes, Italian sky and sunsets, Alpine mountains, +tropical luxuriance of vegetation, a nearly uniform climate, a big +outdoor conservatory. There is no other place on earth that combines so +much in the same limits. You can snowball your companions on Christmas +morning on the mountain-top, pelt your lady friends with rose leaves in +the foot-hills three hours later, and in another sixty minutes dip in +the surf no cooler than Newport in July; and the theatre in the evening. +As a bright workman said, you can freeze through and thaw out in one +day.</p> + +<p>An electric railroad will soon connect Los Angeles with Pasadena and +Mount Wilson, and a fine hotel is to be placed on the top of Echo +Mountain, 3500 feet high, and this will then certainly be the ideal +health and pleasure resort of the world.</p> + +<p>Pasadena's homes, protected on three sides by mountain ranges, are +surrounded by groves and gardens, trees and hedges from every clime. +Everything will grow and flourish here. Capitalists from the East seem +engaged in a generous rivalry to create the ideal paradise. Passion +vines completely cover the arbors, roses clamber to the tops of houses +and blossom by tens of thousands. I notice displays fit for a floral +show in the windows of butcher shops and shoe stores. The churches are +adorned with a mantle of vines and flowers.</p> + +<p>Are there no "outs," no defects in this Pasadena? One must not forget +the rainy days, the occasional "hot spells" of August and September, a +wind now and then that blows off steeples and tears down fragile +structures, bringing along a good deal more sand than is wanted. And +every year an earthquake may be expected. I have experienced two, and +they are not agreeable.</p> + +<p>Aside from these drawbacks and dust in summer, all else is perfection, +except that the weather is so uniformly glorious that there is seldom a +day when one is willing to stay at home. I feel just now like a +"deestrick" schoolboy who has been "kept in" on a summer afternoon.</p> + +<p>The wild-flowers are more fascinating to me than all those so profusely +cultivated. I weary of five thousand calla-lilies in one church at +Easter, and lose a little interest in roses when they bloom perennially +and in such profusion that I have had enough given me in one morning to +fill a wash-tub or clothes-basket!</p> + +<p>The wealth of color on the hills and mesas in springtime can never be +described or painted. The State flower, the yellow poppy with the name +that would floor any spelling-match hero—the eschscholtzia—is most +conspicuous, and can be seen far away at sea; but there are dozens of +others, that it is better to admire and leave unplucked, as they wilt so +soon. "The ground is literally dolly-vardened with buttercups, violets, +dodecatheons, gilias, nemophilas, and the like. And yet these are the +mere skirmish line of the mighty invading hosts, whose uniforms surpass +the kingly robes of Solomon, and whose banners of crimson and yellow and +purple will soon wave on every hilltop and in every valley.</p> + +<p>"In April and May the lover of nature may pass into the seventh heaven +of botanical delight. Then in favored sections the display reaches a +gorgeousness and a profusion that surpass both description and +imagination."</p> + +<p>No one can paint the grain fields as they look when the sun puts into +every blade a tiny golden ray and it is no longer every-day common +grain, but an enchanted carpet of living, radiant, golden green. We +tourists call it grass, but there is no grass to be proud of in +California.</p> + +<p>No one can paint the sky; no one would accept it as true to nature if +once caught on the canvas.</p> + +<p>I will not attempt to describe the mountains with their many charms. I +listened to a lecture lately where a man was struggling to do this, and +it was positively painful. The flowery verbiage, the accumulated +adjectives, the poetical quotations were overpowering. I seemed actually +sinking into luscious mellifluousness. I shook it off my fingers, as if +it were maple syrup. Then, as he climbed higher and higher, on and up, +never getting away from the richest verdure and the sweetest flowers, +scenes for an artist to paint with rapture, and a poet to sing in +ecstasy, I found myself pushing up my forehead to improvise a mansard +roof for my brain to swell in sympathy. And when he reached the summit +and the panorama burst upon his enraptured vision, it was too much for +my strained emotions, and I quietly slipped out.</p> + +<p>And the strangest part is that every word is true, and, say what one +will, one never gets near the reality. In this respect, you see, it +differs from a floral catalogue sent out in early spring, or a hotel +pamphlet with illustrations.</p> + +<p>The cable road is 3000 feet long, with a direct ascent of 1400 feet, and +the Echo Mountain House will be 1500 feet higher than the Catskill +hotels overlooking the Hudson, and it is estimated that not less than +60,000 fares will be collected upon this mountain railroad the first +year.</p> + +<p>All this was designed and executed by Professor Lowe, of aeronaut fame, +a scientist and banker, the inventor of water-gas and artificial ice, +and a man of great business ability.</p> + +<p>One of the best proofs of the health-giving power of this air is the +fact that the physicians practising here, with one exception, came +seriously ill and have not only recovered, but are strong enough to keep +very busy helping others.</p> + +<p>Pasadena has no ragged shabby outskirts; the poorer classes seem to be +able to own or rent pretty little homes, some like large birdcages, all +well kept and attractive. Some gentlemen from Indianapolis came here in +1873 and started the town, planting their orange orchards under the +shadows of the mountains.</p> + +<p>Each portion has its own attractions. Orange Grove Avenue, a street over +a mile long, is described by its name. Great trees stand in the centre +of the street, a fine road on either side, and the homes are embowered +in flowers and palms, while hedges are made of the pomegranate, the +honeysuckle, and even the heliotrope. Marengo Avenue is lined on either +side by splendid specimens of the pepper, the prettiest and most +graceful of all trees here. Colorado Street, with its homes and shops +and churches, leads out to the foot-hills and "Altadena," which is often +spoken of as recalling the handsome residences along the Riviera.</p> + +<p>The street cars which go from the station toward the mountains bear on +each the words, "This Car for the Poppy Fields," and they are a sight +worth seeing. Mrs. Kellog describes this flower more perfectly than any +artist could paint it: "Think of finest gold, of clearest lemon, of +deepest orange on silkiest texture, just bedewed with a frost-like +sheen, a silvery film, and you have a faint impression of what an +eschscholtzia is. Multiply this impression by acres of waving color." +And in February this may sometimes be seen. It has been well chosen for +the State flower.</p> + +<p>If consumptives must go away from the comforts of home, this is a haven +of rest for them. In a late <i>Medical Record</i> I see that a physician +deprecates the custom of sending hopeless cases to the high altitudes of +Colorado, where the poor victim gasps out a few weeks or months of +existence. "If such cases as the above must be sent from home, as we +sometimes think here, to rid their home physicians of the annoyance of +their presence, they should be sent to Florida or Southern California, +where at least they may be chloroformed off into eternity by a soothing +climate, and not suffer an actual shortening of their days from a +climate acting on a radically different principle and entirely unsuited +to them."</p> + +<p>This is a bit of the shady side after all the sunlight. It is a place +for the invalid to rejoice in, and those in robust health can find +enough to do to employ all their energies.</p> + +<p>The "Tournament of Roses" last winter was a grand success, praised by +all. The "Pageant of Roses" was celebrated here lately, and I cannot +give you a better idea of it than by copying the synopsis.</p> + +<p>Imagine the opera-house trimmed inside with wreaths and festoons and +bouquets of roses—a picture in itself; audience in full evening dress, +each lady carrying roses, each man with a rose for a boutonnière.</p> + +<p>The dancing in costume was exquisitely graceful, and the evolutions and +figures admirably exact—no mistake, nothing amateurish about the whole +performance.</p> + +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center;">PART FIRST.</p> + +<p>Los Flores, a garden in the Crown of the Valley. Goddess Flora and +her pages asleep. Harlequin, the magic spirit, enters, produces by +incantation the rain and summons the maiden Spring, who rouses the +Goddess and her pages. The Goddess commands the Harlequin to usher +in the Pageant of Roses. Enter the Red or Colonial Roses; march and +form for the reception and dance of the Ladies of the Minuet. +Retire. Harlequin, at the request of the Goddess, summons the Gold +of Ophirs, bearing urn as offering to the Goddess, when is +performed the dance of the Orient, including solo. Curtain falls on +tableau.</p> + +<p style="text-align: center;">PART SECOND.</p> + +<p>Same garden. Goddess on her throne, surrounded by her pages. She +summons the Harlequin, who in turn brings the Roses of Castile. +They bring offering of flowers to the Goddess, and perform a dance.</p> + + +<p>Goddess again summons Harlequin, who, by great effort, brings the +Roses of the Snow, or the Little Girls from Boston, led by Frost +Maiden. They perform a dance and retire. Both Harlequins enter, +perform a dance, and command the blooming of the Pink Rose Buds. +Pink Rose Buds enter without offering for the Goddess, and prevail +upon the Harlequins to help them out of their difficulties. The +Harlequins send Poppies for the great La France Rose Buds as an +offering, and perform "The Transformation of the Rose." Rose Buds +dance and are joined by the little Roses in the Snow. All dance and +retire. Enter White Harlequin, who calls for the White Rose dance +by the Greek maidens. They perform ceremonies and deck the altar of +their Goddess, dance and retire. Curtain.</p> + +<p style="text-align: center;">PART THIRD.</p> + +<p>Grand march. Tableau, with falling Rose petals, in the magic cañon.</p></blockquote> + +<p>And not a word yet of The Raymond, that popular house set upon a hill +that commands a view hard to equal. The house is always filled to +overflowing, and this year General Wentworth tells me the business has +been better than ever. This famous resort is in East Pasadena, and has +its own station. It is always closed in April, just at the time when +there is the most to see and enjoy, and the flowers are left to bloom +unseen.</p> + +<p>The other fine hotel here, named for its owner, Colonel Green of +"August Flower" fame, is on ground eight feet higher, although by the +conformation of the land it does not look so.</p> + +<p>Many prefer to be in the town and nearer the mountains, and this house +proving insufficient for its patrons, an addition four times the size of +the present building is being added in semi-Moorish architecture, at a +cost of $300,000.</p> + +<p>That item shows what an experienced man of business thinks about the +future of Pasadena.</p> + +<p>The town is full of pleasant boarding-houses, as Mrs. Dexter's, Mrs. +Bangs's, and Mrs. Roberts's, and many enjoy having rooms at one house +and taking meals at another. You can spend as much or as little as you +choose. At Mrs. Snyder's I found simple but delicious old-fashioned +home-cooking at most reasonable rates.</p> + +<p>And still more? Yes, the Public Library must be mentioned, the valuable +collections I was permitted to see, the old mission of San Gabriel +three miles away, and then I shall give the next chapter to my brother, +who spent a week on Mt. Wilson, and came down wonderfully benefited even +by that short stay. One invalid he met there had gained four pounds in +as many days. His ambition now is to open a law office up among the +clouds and transact business by telephone, saying the fact that his +clients could not see him would be no disadvantage.</p> + +<p>While he is discoursing I will be studying the history of the Indian +baskets and report later.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<h3>CAMPING ON MOUNT WILSON.</h3> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"On every height there lies repose."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>At Pasadena the mountain wall which guards the California of the South +stands very near and looks down with pride upon the blooming garden +below. The mountains which belong especially to Pasadena are but three +miles away. Their average height exceeds slightly that of the Mt. +Washington range in New Hampshire. The Sierra Madre system, of which +they form a part, contains some peaks considerably higher.</p> + +<p>Farther to the East, "Old Baldy"—Mt. San Antonio—raises its snowy +summit to a height just close enough to ten thousand feet to test the +veracity of its admirers. It is about ten miles from Pasadena by the +eyes, but would be twenty by the feet, if they could walk an air line.</p> + +<p>To the south and east of "Old Baldy" is Mt. San Jacinto, 12,000 feet +above the Pacific, upon which it looks, in the far distance.</p> + +<p>The majestic mountain wall, almost bending over the homes of Pasadena, +with their vines and fig trees, their roses and lilies, their orchards +of orange and lemon, and the distant snow-clad peaks glittering in the +gentle sunshine, combine to form a perfect picture. There are detailed +descriptions from the pens of those who feel an unctuous joy in painting +the lily, kalsomining the calla, and adding perfumes to the violet, the +rose, and the orange.</p> + +<p>The "Pasadena Alps" are so smeared with oleaginous gush that I had +conceived against them a sort of antipathy, which was not diminished by +their barren, treeless appearance.</p> + +<p>As Nature reasserted herself, this artificial nausea wore away. I took a +drive to Millard's Cañon, and was surprised at finding a charming wooded +road winding up through the cañon along a mountain stream. From the end +of the carriage-road we walked half a mile to a picturesque waterfall +having a sheer descent of perhaps forty feet.</p> + +<p>This revelation inspired a drive to Eaton's Cañon, where I found similar +attractions, and which led me to the new Mt. Wilson trail, or "Toll +Road." I made inquiries, inspected the small but substantial mules which +do the pedestrian part of the trip, went up the trail a short distance, +and, after many assurances, arranged to make the ascent.</p> + +<p>In fact, this trail is remarkably well built. It winds up the mountain +by a gradual and even ascent of nine miles, the grade nowhere exceeding +ten per cent. There are two camps near the summit, open all the year. +You may return the same day or stay for the remainder of your life.</p> + +<p>Take little luggage, of course: a heavy overcoat or wrap, and a small +grip. In the winter the nights are cold, and clouds and rain are not +unlikely to present the compliments of the season.</p> + +<p>The mountains of California are as topsy-turvy as its rivers. We used +to learn in our physical geographies that as the traveller ascends a +mountain the large trees continually give place to smaller—shrinking at +last to stunted shrubs, with a summit of barren rock.</p> + +<p>As our mules plod up Mt. Wilson, the trail at first is sandy, and the +mountain's flanks a barren waste, with thin covering of cactus and +chaparral. Half a mile from the starting-point appear small bushes, +which grow larger as we move upward. The trail turns into a cañon, and +becomes a hard, cool pathway leading up through small live-oaks and high +growth of bushes. We begin to see slender pines and larger oaks. Now the +trail leaves the cañon and winds out upon the open mountain-side. Here +the chaparral is green and flourishing.</p> + +<p>We wind abruptly into a cañon. Bushes of wild lilac overhang the path. +The manzanita reminds one of lilies of the valley transplanted to +California and growing on a bush. Down to the torrent at the bottom of +the cañon, and up its steep side, are large pines and live-oaks, +mountain mahogany and cedar. Near the summit we wind along a precipice +where the trail is blasted from the solid rock. Even here, any one who +is disposed to "look aloft" will see pine trees hanging over his head +hundreds of feet above.</p> + +<p>The summit is a forest of towering trees. On the topmost ridges are the +monarchs of the mountains—oaks three and four feet, and pines four and +five feet in diameter. Of course this increase in the size of timber is +noticeably uniform, only where the soil and natural features of the +mountains favor it. But the summit of Mt. Wilson, at least, resembles a +picnic ground raised nearly six thousand feet above the sea. The air is +light, dry, and exhilarating. The ground is carpeted with pine needles. +Delicate wild-flowers are seen in their season. In April I found wild +peas in blossom, harebells, morning-glories, poppies, and many varieties +of yellow flowers. I also saw hummingbirds, butterflies, swallows, and +squirrels, and here and there patches of plain white old-fashioned snow. +It is a novel spectacle to see a small boy snowballing a butterfly. In +the spring even dead trees are glorified with a mantle of golden green +moss. It covers the trunks of some of the living pines, making an +artistic background for the deep green of their boughs.</p> + +<p>From this upside-down mountain we look down upon rivers flowing bottom +side up. And that is California.</p> + +<p>As to the safety of the ascent, no one need hesitate who is free from +settled prejudice against a side-hill. You will soon let the reins hang +from the pommel of the saddle. One who chooses may jump off and walk for +a change. Only, if you are at the end of the procession, be careful to +keep between your mule and the foot of the mountain; otherwise he will +wheel around and wend his way homeward. If toiling along near the +summit, absorbed in the beauties of the prospect, it might be awkward to +feel the halter jerked from your hand and to see the mule galloping +around a sharp bend with your satchel, hung loosely over the pommel, +bobbing violently up and down, and perhaps hurled off into space as the +intelligent animal rounds the corner.</p> + +<p>Yes, it is safe, but there is a spice of excitement about it. I was +nervous at first, and seeing that the mule wished to nibble such herbage +as offered itself, I had thought it well to humor him. At a narrow space +with sharp declivity below, the beast fixed his jaws upon a small tough +bush on the upper bank. As he warmed up to the work, his hind feet +worked around toward the edge of the chasm. The bush began to come out +by the roots, which seemed to be without end. As the weight of the mule +was thrown heavily backward, I looked forward with some apprehension to +the time when the root should finally give way: I saw now that the mule +had fixed his stubborn jaws upon the entrails of the mountain, and +expected every instant to see other vital organs brought to light. I +dared not and could not move. The root gave way, allowing the mule to +fall backward, and startling him with a rattling down of stones and +gravel. One foot slipped over the edge, but three stuck to the path, and +the majority prevailed. After that I saw it was safer to let my faithful +beast graze on the outer edge. All went well until he became absorbed in +following downward the foliage of a bush which grew up from below. As +he stretched his neck farther and farther down, I saw that he was +bending his forelegs. His shoulders sank more and more. There was +nothing between me and the sea-level except the mule's ears. By frantic +exertions I worked myself backward, and was sliding down behind—too +late. The bush broke, causing the mule to fall back forcibly against the +inner bank, with myself sandwiched between the adamantine wall of the +mountain and the well-shod heels of the mule. The animal, being as much +scared as myself, started up the trail at a gallop. I had saved my life +but lost my mule. I have no taste for overtaking runaway mules on a +steep and interminable up-grade. It is a taste which must be acquired. +But then, of course, the mule would turn after his first alarm and tear +down to the stable. I resolved to push on in the hope of finding a wider +portion of the path, or at least of meeting the animal before he had +acquired uncontrollable momentum.</p> + +<p>At the very first turn a boy appeared hurrying back with my palfry. The +mule had galloped on until he overtook the rest of the party, who had +sent him back in haste, while they followed on as quickly as possible.</p> + +<p>It flashed upon my mind that the mule understands his business. We +imagine, egotistically, that the mule is all the time thinking about us, +and that he may take umbrage at some fancied slight and leap with us +down the abyss. Now the mule does not care to make the descent in that +way. He is thinking about himself just like the rest of us. We are only +so much freight packed upon his back.</p> + +<p>The foregoing narrative may be exaggerated in some details, but the +essential facts remain, that the mule has a healthy appetite and that he +looks out for himself.</p> + +<p>A little further on I had an opportunity to judge how a passenger would +conduct himself if he should be thrown from the trail. At the point +where the slope of the mountains is most abrupt, certain repairs had +lately been made upon the trail, and a man was now prying large stones +over the edge. They rolled and tumbled down, taking wild leaps into the +air and plunging from rock to rock. After they disappeared in the woods +we could hear them crashing and clattering down the cañon. A small +avalanche of broken fragments followed in their wake.</p> + +<p>It must have been a fine sight when the blasting was first done in the +side of the rocky precipice: when huge masses of rock, half as big as a +house, were rent from the side of the mountain and thundered down with +frightful crash, cutting off huge trees and shaking the very mountains. +And now I will say again that the trail is wide and safe; the slopes on +the side are seldom very steep, and the mules could not be pushed over +by any available power.</p> + +<p>Some people, in fact, prefer the old trail because it is more wild and +romantic and not so well kept. The new road has enough picturesque +features to satisfy me.</p> + +<p>I remember when the valley came in sight again, after half an hour's +climbing, the first objects to catch my eye were the storage reservoirs, +which dot the valley and are used in irrigation. Their regular shapes +and the margins of masonry about them give them, from the mountains, +the appearance of mirrors. One seemed almost directly below. Probably it +was at least a hundred feet in length. In the form of a rectangle with +rounded corners, it was the exact counterpart of a framed mirror. The +surface was like polished glass, and trees upon the bank were reflected +with beautiful distinctness.</p> + +<p>After another half-hour's ride comes a glimpse in the other direction. +Through a gap in the mountains we look for a moment behind the hills of +Pasadena into the heart of the Sierra Madre. Vistas of mountain-sides +are seen on either hand, one beyond the other, the long slope of one +slightly overlapping that of its nearer neighbor, offering for our +inspection a succession of blue tints, becoming more and more delicate +in the distance till they melt into the sky.</p> + +<p>The mules care less for visible azure than for edible verdure, and soon +carried us by this picture. Far up the trail is a pretty scene upon our +own mountain. Suddenly we came out of the cool, wild forest upon a +little level spot, by the spring of the mountain stream. Here is an old +camp with green grass growing up about the deserted building. After a +final winding journey around the steep southerly side of the mountain, +came the first full view of the wild chaos of broken ranges toward the +desert. Then follows a gradual shaded ascent to the camp. The world has +varied panoramas of mountain scenery "set off" by the glitter of snowy +peaks. In California there are many accessible summits rising from +half-tropical valleys. Mountains which overlook the sea are without +number. There may be in America other points from which one may look +down upon a "city of homes," and a "business centre" with sixty thousand +busy inhabitants. I do not know any spot apart from the mountains of +Pasadena where you may put all of these in combination. From the +northerly peak of Mt. Wilson to the southerly peak of Mt. Harvard is a +distance by trail along the ridge of perhaps three miles, offering a +variety of points of view. To the north and east you may look down into +a gorge two thousand feet beneath, from which rises on the gentle breeze +the mingled voice of brawling brook and murmuring pines. Beyond is a +confusion of green mountains, from which a range of white summits rises +in the calm distance. Toward the south are solitary peaks with halos of +fleecy cloud.</p> + +<p>As for the prospect in the other direction, it shows at once that the +way to print upon the mind a map of California's physical formation is +to see it <i>a la</i> bird's-eye—as the short path to acquaintance with a +great city is a vertical one—to the tower of the City Hall.</p> + +<p>One would require but a few more well-selected stations to map out all +of Southern California.</p> + +<p>The several valleys of which Los Angeles is the commercial capital are +stretched out before us like perfectly level plains, divided by ranges +of hills. In the distance lies the glistening Pacific, with the blue +outlines of Catalina and more distant islands etched upon the western +sky. This picture is sometimes so distinct that you find yourself +trying to recognize acquaintances on the streets of Pasadena. Again +everything is dreamy with haze. Another morning you may stumble out +trying to rub yesterday's sunburn from your eyes, and find everything +below curtained by a bank of snowy fog. As for myself, I enjoy the +prospect most when I cannot see it at all—that is, at night.</p> + +<p>There is a varied interchange of signals between the mountains and the +valley. At noon the people here talk with their Pasadena friends by +gleaming flashlight. Then there are the reservoirs scattered over the +valley. In certain lights they are not seen at all, but in line with the +sun they send up great flash signals themselves, and just after sunset +they are always seen reflecting the calm twilight. An hour after sunset +our camp-fire is lighted. As we stand by it, the horizon seems to have +retired for the night. There is continuous sky, shading without a break +into the shadows below. Gazing dreamily down, I am startled by the +flashing forth of a hundred brilliant stars from what was the valley +below. They disappear for a moment and then blaze out and become a +permanent constellation. These stars are too numerous to resemble any +known constellation. I concluded after a little that the mighty Orion +had drawn his sword and slain the Great Bear; that the lion had rashly +interfered and his carcass had been dragged to that of the bear, and +that the exhausted Orion had thrown himself wearily upon them to rest. +And there are the Pleiades close by; with feminine curiosity they have +come as near as they dared, to see what it is all about.</p> + +<p>Those wishing a scientific explanation of these phenomena must consult +the Pasadena Electric Lighting Company, except as to the stray Pleiades, +which seem to have some connection with the lights of the Raymond Hotel.</p> + +<p>But what is that dim and curious meteor slowly moving toward the spot +where Los Angeles used to be? Perhaps it is the headlight which heralds +the coming of the belated overland train. Suddenly I see out of the +darkness beyond Pasadena the blazing forth of a majestic cross, of +wavering, uneven outline, but made up of crowded multitudes of +sparkling, glittering, scintillating stars. Los Angeles has +substantially the same system of street illumination as Pasadena.</p> + +<p>You will note that I have abstained from hauling the sun above the +eastern Sierras in the morning, and from tucking it under the Pacific at +night. This rearrangement of ponderous constellations is all that my +strength and my other engagements will permit. Those who want to know +the glories of the sunset and moonlight must climb Mt. Wilson +themselves.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<h3>CATCHING UP ON THE KITE-SHAPED TRACK.</h3> + + +<p>Not the kite-shaped track of new-made trotting records and pneumatic +tires, but a track upon which you may pass a pleasant day riding after +the iron horse.</p> + +<p>The route extends easterly from Los Angeles to San Bernardino <i>via</i> +Pasadena. Beyond San Bernardino is the "loop," which will take us twelve +miles farther east to Mentone, and around an oval curve back to San +Bernardino. Thence we kite down to Riverside, then southwesterly to +Orange, and so up to Los Angeles. Leaving Los Angeles at 9 A.M. you may +return by 4 P.M., with time for dinner at San Bernardino.</p> + +<p>Taking the traveller back and forth across the central part of Southern +California as it does, the kite-shaped trip is naturally a favorite +with tourists, and, as its "catchy" name indicates, it caters to that +element of travel. One always sees also anxious and eager "prospectors" +or expectant settlers, who lose no opportunity to inquire all about +citrus and deciduous fruits, and prices of land and of water for +irrigating the same. This excursion will show you the heart of the +orange belt or belts of Southern California, especially on the northern +and eastern sides of the "kite."</p> + +<p>The schedule of trains allows of convenient stop-overs, and several may +be made to advantage.</p> + +<p>Pasadena and Riverside of course must not be passed by. A short stay at +Orange or Anaheim gives an interesting glimpse of a region where orange +culture is combined with that of other citrus fruits, as well as the +grape and olive.</p> + +<p>Aside from these points, the most interesting feature of the trip is the +"loop" beyond San Bernardino. The town of San Bernardino is a thriving +business centre. Perhaps it is on this account that its appearance from +the car window is not as attractive as that of Riverside or Pasadena, +which from all points of view seem peacefully embowered in half-tropic +foliage. But away from the railroads San Bernardino also has its +charming residence district, with the same general characteristics as +its sister towns.</p> + +<p>Upon the "loop" a stop should be made at Redlands, an interesting spot, +where the successful culture of oranges is carried on at a much higher +elevation than was thought possible until a few years ago. There is +never any frost there to injure the fruit. The Hotel Terracina, on the +heights, has a wondrous view, and the Smiley brothers, of "Lake Mohunk" +celebrity, have fine grounds and homes on Cañon Crest, and are thinking +of building a hotel.</p> + +<p>The circuit of the "loop" reminds me of roving around upon the rim of a +very large and shallow spoon, tilted upward toward Mentone at the +smaller end. San Bernardino is 1075 feet above the sea, and Mentone 1640 +feet. At that point we have nearly climbed the foothills, and are very +close to the great mountains themselves. As we skim around upon the +upper side of the "loop," the long gradual slope from the foot of the +mountains to the stream at the centre of the valley seems an ideal +conformation for leading the irrigation streams from the mountains along +the rows of orange trees which will soon entirely cover this valley.</p> + +<p>Four miles from San Bernardino is the station of Arrowhead, from which +we have a near view of the peak of nature which gives the place its +name. It is a bare, gravelly tract on the side of the mountain, which, +in contrast with the chaparral about it, takes the shape of an Indian +arrowhead with a portion of the shaft attached. Covering a large area, +the arrowhead is a landmark for many miles around. I could not help +thinking that if a gang of Italian laborers were employed for a few days +sharpening the outline of the arrowhead by cutting away bushes along the +edge, and setting out others judiciously in the converted background, +the effect of this interesting natural phenomenon might be much +brightened. There are hot-springs at Arrowhead, and a hotel renders the +varied attractions of the place available.</p> + +<p>While we are kiting along let me tell you what I know about baskets +made by the Indian women of the Pacific Coast of now and long ago, the +last considered valuable and now commanding high prices. There are +several experts on this subject in Pasadena—Mrs. Lowe, ex-Mayor Lukens, +Mrs. Jeanne C. Carr, and Mrs. Belle Jewett, who has the most precious +collection of all.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lowe has gathered together for her Basement Museum, which any State +would be proud to own, all that she could find of special interest +relative to the Indians of California—clothing, headdress, weapons, +medicine charms, money, beads, and of course many baskets, for baskets +are as indispensable to the Indian as the reindeer to the Esquimau. They +were used as cradles, caps for the head when carrying burdens, wardrobes +for garments not in use, granaries on roof, sifters for pounded meal, +for carrying water, and keeping it for use, for cooking, receptacles for +money, plaques to gamble on, and so on. And the basket plays an +important part in their legends and folk-lore.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Lowe determined to preserve these specimens, as tourists were +rapidly carrying away all they could find of such relics, and soon the +State would be without proofs to tell how the Indian of the past lived +and fed and fought, bought and sold, how he was dressed, and how he +amused himself.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Ellen B. Farr, an artist in Pasadena who is famous for her success +in painting the pepper tree and the big yellow poppy, with its reddish +orange line changing toward petal tips to pale lemon, has also devoted +her skill to pictures of such baskets grouped effectually—baskets now +scattered all over the world, each with its own history, its own +individuality, and no duplicate, for no two baskets are ever exactly +similar.</p> + +<p>The true way to obtain these baskets is, go a-hunting for them, not buy +them at stores. They are handed down for generations as heirlooms +originally, never intended for sale, and with the needles used in +weaving, made usually of a fine bone from a hawk's wing, and the +gambling dice, are the carefully concealed family treasures. But +sometimes by going yourself to see the aged squaws, or paying one who +is familiar with their ways to explore for you, you may get a rich +return. Baskets are of all sizes, from the little beauties no bigger +than a teacup, woven finely and adorned with beads and bits of dyed +feathers, to the granaries, or the storage baskets, holding half a ton, +nine feet and nine inches in circumference, three feet deep. Mrs. Jewett +showed me a photograph of one of this sort, in which she sat comfortably +seated with her six-foot son and his wife. This had been in use more +than fifty years, and was as fine as ever. Her one hundred and +twenty-eight baskets represent twenty-eight tribes. In regard to the +shapes and designs, the women seem to have copied straight from nature's +patterns, as seen in acorns, pine cones, seed vessels, etc., so they are +truly artists.</p> + +<p>Figures of men are sometimes woven in: those with heads on represent the +victorious warriors; those decapitated depict the braves vanquished by +the fighters of their special tribe. An open palm is sometimes seen; +this is an emblem of peace.</p> + +<p>Willow wands and stiff long-stemmed grasses are gathered and dried for +these baskets, then woven in coils and increased as they go on, as in a +crochet stitch. It often requires a deal of coaxing and good pay to +secure one of these highly prized "Coras."</p> + +<p>The women were as devoted to gambling as the men, and made flat trays +for this purpose. The dice were eight acorn shells, or half-walnut +shells, first daubed over inside with pitch, and then inlaid with little +shells which represented money.</p> + +<p>I saw a tray and dice purchased most adroitly from an excited gambling +party, who were at the time too much intoxicated to know exactly what +they were doing. After it had been paid for the owner was implored to +sit down and gamble himself, hoping in this way to win more money and +get back the board. It was hard to withstand their forcible appeals, but +the man ran away, and was obliged to hide all night for fear of assault. +Squaws would sometimes bet pieces of flesh from their arms when their +money was gone, and many of them have been seen with rows of scars on +their arms for this reason. No basket can be finished by an Indian woman +until she has ceased to bear children. Then her work is done.</p> + +<p>The Japanese are famous basket-makers, but they do not far excel the +best work found among these untutored workwomen.</p> + +<p>Most curious of all is the fact that a <i>savant</i> connected with the +Smithsonian Institute was amazed when examining a "buck," or man's +plaque, to find it almost exactly like one he had brought from northern +India—similar in weaving, size, and shading.</p> + +<p>And a lady told me that she could make herself understood by those of a +certain tribe in Mexico by speaking to them in Sicilian. Which makes me +think of Joel Chandler Harris and his embarrassment, after publishing +his stories of "Uncle Remus," to receive letters from learned men at +home and abroad, inquiring how this legend that he had given was the +same as one in India, or Egypt, or Siam.</p> + +<p>The art of basketry is rapidly deteriorating, and will soon be lost +unless Indian children in the reservation are taught something of the +old skill by their grandmothers, before the few now living depart for +that happy, unmolested hunting-ground they like to believe in, where I +do hope they will find a land all their own.</p> + +<p>The Mexican drawn-work is seen everywhere for sale, and at moderate +prices—so moderate that any one is foolish to waste eyesight in +imitating it. Each stitch has a name, and is full of meaning to the +patient maker.</p> + +<p>One can easily spend a good deal for curios, such as plaques, cups, +vases, napkin-rings, plates and toothpicks of orange wood, bark +pin-cushions, cat's-eye pins, etchings of all the missions in India ink, +wild-flower, fern, and moss work, and, perhaps most popular of all, the +pictures on orange wood of the burro, the poppy, and pepper and oranges. +Or, if interested in natural history, you can secure a horned toad, a +centipede, or a tarantula, alive or dead, and "set up."</p> + +<p>A horned toad is more easy to care for than the average baby alligator +of Florida, and as a pet is not more exacting, as it can live six months +without eating.</p> + +<p>"Why do some women like horrible things for pets?</p> + +<p>"Mother Eve set the example, and ever since serpents have been in the +front rank of woman's eccentric loves. Cleopatra was fond of tigers and +ferocious beasts, but she turned at last to a snake as the most fitting +creature to do her bidding.</p> + +<p>"Centuries ago the queens of Egypt made pets of horned toads, and the +ugly little reptiles became things of state, and their lives more sacred +than the highest ministers to the court. Daughters of the Nile +worshipped crocodiles."</p> + +<p>A very intelligent man, who has every reason to speak with authority +about the tarantula as found in California, declares that it is not +dangerous. He says they live in ground that has not been disturbed by +the plough. Their hole in the ground is about three fourths of an inch +in diameter and twelve or fourteen inches deep, with only a web over the +top. Many tell us that the tarantula has a lid on the top of his house, +but this is incorrect, as that belongs to the trap-door spider. It is +sold, however, here as a tarantula's nest. This creature dislikes the +winter rains as much as the tourist does, and fills up the entrance of +the nest in October and November, not appearing until May. The greater +number are found on adobe and clay soil. Tarantulas never come out at +night; the male sometimes appears just before sundown, but the female is +seldom seen away from home unless disturbed. They seem to have a model +family life. Mr. Wakely, who has caught more of these spiders than any +living man, does not seem to dread the job in the least. One man goes +ahead and places a small red flag at the opening of the nest; the next +man pours down a little water, which brings Mr. T—— up to see what is +the matter, and then Mr. W—— quietly secures it with a pair of pincers +and puts it in a bottle, and has thus succeeded in catching hundreds, +but has never had a bite. (This last line reminds me of the amateur +angler.) He tells me that there seems to be a general impression that a +tarantula will jump into the second-story window of a house, and, +springing upon the neck of a young lady sitting there, will kill her +instantly. He has never seen one jump three inches. If one leg is broken +off nature soon provides another. The Texas variety is believed to be +more dangerous. I do not know.</p> + +<p>There are rattlesnakes to be seen and heard about the mountains in hot +weather.</p> + +<p>As to buying precious stones, especially opals, in this part of the +country, I think it is wisest to buy opals in the real old Mexico for +yourselves, often very cheaply. The prices rise rapidly here. A water +opal, however beautiful, has no commercial value. It is but an +imprisoned soap-bubble, and is apt to crumble. There are stores where +pretty colored stones can be bought, but the majority get cheated as to +price.</p> + +<p>But we are not paying proper attention to the "panorama." Many have been +led to settle here by taking this picturesque trip; and with plenty of +water oranges pay splendidly. So there is substantial wealth, ever on +the increase, in these new towns.</p> + +<p>By the way, were you ever asked to be a "panorama"? I once had that +honor. A lady came to my house one Sunday morning, and explained that +her husband was dreadfully depressed over a fall in stocks or something, +and she knew I could be "so amusing" if I chose, and wouldn't I get into +her carriage and go with her to amuse said husband, and be a sort of +panorama for the poor man? "I don't want him to be in the panorama," she +said, "nor of the panorama; I want you just to be the panorama by +yourself." I was forced to decline this singular appeal, glad as I +should have been to cheer her dumpy spouse.</p> + +<p>Why, oh why is it, that if persons have the slightest power of being +what is vaguely called "entertaining," they are expected to be ever on +duty at the call of any one who feels a desire for inexpensive +diversion?</p> + +<p>At one hotel I sat by the side of an odd old man, a retired tobacco +merchant of great wealth, who was ready for conversation with all +newcomers, and who seemed to feel that I was not doing my full share as +an entertainer for the masses. He also had the unusual habit of +speaking his thoughts aloud, whether complimentary or otherwise, in +frank soliloquy, like that absent-minded Lord Dudley whom Sydney Smith +alludes to, as meeting and greeting him with effusive cordiality, and +then saying, <i>sotto voce</i>, "I suppose I shall have to ask this man home +to dinner."</p> + +<p>But my friend at my elbow had very little of the <i>sotto</i> in his <i>voce</i>. +He began in this way:</p> + +<p>"Ahem! I hear you can be funny." No response from person addressed. Then +to himself: "I don't much believe she can do anything—don't look like +it." To me: "Well, now, if you <i>can</i> be funny, why don't you?" I could +not help laughing then. "Yes, if you can, you ought to go into the +parlor every night and show what you can do, and amuse us. It is your +duty. Why, I told Quilletts—you know 'bout Quilletts? awfully funny +feller; good company, you see—says I, 'Quilletts, I like you. Now, if +you'll stay I'll give you a cottage, rent free, all summer (I've got an +island home—lots of us fellers on it—great times we have); but you +must agree to be funny every night, and keep the ball a-rollin'.' Now +we want you to get up and do something to entertain the guests. We want +to be amused—somethin' that will set us laughin'!"</p> + +<p>I replied: "Mr. Brushwood, I understand you are a dealer in tobacco?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, mum; and you won't find finer tobacker anywhere in this world than +what's got my name on it. Here's a picture of my store. Why, Brushwood's +tobacker is known all over the United States."</p> + +<p>"Yes? Well, when I notice you freely distributing that tobacco, bunches +of your choicest brands, papers of the very best for chewing, cigarettes +by the dozen, in the parlor evenings, I'll follow on just behind you, +and try to amuse as a condensed circus. I'm not lacking in philanthropy. +I only need to be roused by your noble example, sustained by your +influence."</p> + +<p>Brushwood looked disgusted, grunted his disapproval, backed his chair +out from the table, and as he walked to the door of the dining-room many +heard him mutter, "She's a queer dick; don't amount to much, anyway; +thought so when I first saw her; impudent, too!"</p> + +<p>As the farmer remarked when he first encountered a sportsman dude, "What +things a feller does meet when he hasn't got his gun!"</p> + +<p>But the train is slowing up, and see, Judge Brown, my old friend of The +Anchorage, is looking for us. No! No "Glenwood"; no "Arlington"; no +"kerridge"!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<h3>RIVERSIDE.</h3> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Knowest thou the land where the lemon trees bloom,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where the golden orange grows in the deep thickets' gloom,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where a wind ever soft from the blue heavens blows,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the groves are of laurel and myrtle and rose?"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Yes, that describes Riverside, and reads like a prophecy. If Pasadena is +a big garden with pretty homes scattered all through its shade and +flowers, then Riverside is an immense orange grove, having one city-like +street, with substantial business blocks and excellent stores, two +banks, one in the Evans block, especially fine in all its architecture +and arrangements, and the rest is devoted by the land-owners to raising +oranges and making them pay. You will see flowers enough to overwhelm a +Broadway florist, every sort of cereal, every fruit that grows, in prime +condition for the table ten months out of the twelve. Three hundred +sunny days are claimed here out of the three hundred and sixty-five. +They are once in a while bothered by a frost, but that is "unusual." +Before 1870 this was a dusty desert of decomposed granite. What has +caused the change? Scientific irrigation and plenty of it. Or, as Grant +Allen puts it, "mud." He says: "Mud is the most valuable material in the +world. It is by mud we live; without it we should die. Mud is filling up +the lakes. Mud created Egypt, and mud created Lombardy."</p> + +<p>Yes, one can get rich here by turning dust into mud. It is said to be +the richest town "per capita" in all California of the same size, $1100 +being the average allowance for each person. This is solemnly vouched +for by reliable citizens. And they have no destitute poor—a remarkable +record. The city and district are said to enjoy an annual income of +$1,500,000 from the fruit alone, and there is a million of unused money +in the two banks.</p> + +<p>Irrigation is better than rain, for the orange growers can turn on a +shower or a stream whenever and wherever needed. It requires courage +and faith to go straight into a desert with frowning mountains, big, +little, and middle-sized, all about, and not an available drop of water, +and say, "I'm going to settle right here and turn this desert into a +beautiful home, and start a prosperous, wealthy city. All that this +rocky, barren plain needs is water and careful cultivation, and I will +give it both." That was Judge Brown's decision, and the result shows his +wisdom. No one agreed with him; it was declared that colonists could not +be induced to try it. But he could not relinquish the idea. He was +charmed by the dry, balmy air, so different from Los Angeles. He saw the +smooth plain was well adapted for irrigation, and Santa Ana could be +made to furnish all the water needed. So that it is really to him we owe +the pleasure of seeing these orchards, vineyards, avenues, and homes. +Where once the coyote and jack-rabbit had full sway, land now sells at +prices from $400 to $3000 per acre. There are no fences—at least, there +is but one in all Riverside. You see everywhere fine, well-trimmed +cypress hedges with trees occasionally cut in fantastic, elaborate +designs. There are many century plants about the grounds; they blossom +in this climate after twelve years, and die after the tall homely flower +has come to maturity. The roadsides have pretty flowers planted all +along, giving a gay look, and the very weeds just now are covered with +blossoms. Irrigation is carried on most scientifically, the water coming +from a creek and the "cienaga," which I will explain later. There are +several handsome avenues shaded with peppers, and hedges twenty feet +high, through which are obtained peeps at enchanting homes; but the +celebrated drive which all tourists are expected to take is that to and +fro through Magnolia Avenue, twelve miles long. The name now seems illy +chosen, as only a few magnolia trees were originally planted at each +corner, and these have mostly died, so that the whole effect is more +eucalyptical, palmy, and pepperaneous than it is magnolious. People come +here "by chance the usual way," and buy because they see the chance to +make money. You are told pretty big stories of successes; the failures +are not alluded to.</p> + +<p>I saw a large and prosperous place belonging to a woman of business +ability, who came out all alone, took up a government grant, ploughed +and planted and irrigated, sent for a sister to help her, sold land at +great prices, and is now a wealthy woman. If I had not passed through +such depressing and enthusiasm-subduing experiences as an agriculturist +in the East I might be tempted here. I did look with interest at the +ostrich farms, and had visions of great profits from feathers, eggs, and +egg-shells. But it takes a small fortune to get started in that +business, as eggs are twenty dollars each, and the birds are sometimes +five hundred dollars apiece. And they are subject to rheumatism and a +dozen other diseases, and a blow from a kicking bird will kill one. I +concluded to let that dream be unrealized. Did you ever hear of the +nervous invalid who was told by his physician to buy a Barbary ostrich +and imitate him exactly for three months? It was a capital story. The +lazy dyspeptic was completely cured. As a hen woman I will remark <i>en +passant</i> that it is hard to raise poultry in this part of California. +The climate is too exhilarating, and if the head of each chicken does +not get a drop of oil at once it dies of brain disease.</p> + +<p>Corn does not thrive. Mr. Brown at first put down ten acres to corn. It +looked promising, but grew all to stalk. These stalks were over twelve +feet high, but corn was of no value, so he sold the stalks for eighty +dollars, and started his oranges.</p> + +<p>The English are largely interested here, and have invested two or three +millions, which will pay large interest to their grandchildren. Their +long avenue is loyally named "Victoria." A thrifty Canadian crazed by +the "boom," the queerest mental epidemic or delusion that ever took hold +of sensible people, bought some stony land just under Rubidoux Mountain +for $4000. It was possibly worth $100, but in those delirious days many +did much worse. It is amazing to see what hard work and water and good +taste will do for such a place. He has blasted the rocks, made fountains +and cisterns, planted several acres of strawberries, set out hundreds +of orange trees, has a beautiful garden, two pretty cottages, and some +day he will get back his original price for a building site, for the +view is grand.</p> + +<p>Riverside, while leading the orange-producing section of Southern +California, is not exactly the location which would have been selected +by the original settlers had they possessed the experience of the +producers of today. The oranges do not have to be washed, as in some +other places; they are not injured by smut or scale; the groves are +faultless in size of trees, shape, and taste of fruit. One orange +presented to me weighed thirty-one ounces. But the growers, having lost +$1,000,000 by Jack Frost several years ago, are obliged now to resort to +the use of lighted tar-pots on cold nights to make a dense smudge to +keep the temperature above the danger line. One man uses petroleum in +hundred-gallon casks, one for each acre, from which two pipes run along +between the rows of trees, with half a dozen elbows twenty feet apart, +over which are flat sheet-iron pans, into which the oil spatters as it +vaporizes. An intensely hot flame keeps off the frost. This I do not +hear spoken of at Riverside; you must go to a rival for any disagreeable +information. At Pasadena their severe winds are called "Riversiders"; at +Anaheim they are "Santa Anas"; and friends write me from damp Los +Angeles to the dry air of Riverside, "How can you stay in that 'damp' +place?" The inhabitants of Riverside do not concede that Pasadena is a +place for orange growers. At Redlands, luckily above frost terrors, the +terrible losses at Riverside from that trouble are profusely narrated. +San Diego gets its share of humorous belittlement from all. You hear the +story quoted of the shrewd Chinee who went to that city to look for +business, where one hears much of future developments, but did not +settle, saying, "It has too muchee bym-bye." Friends, and especially +hotel proprietors, exclaim in disgusted astonishment, "What! going to +Riverside? Why, there's nothing there but oranges."</p> + +<p>I find more: fine and charming drives, scenery that differs from that +of Pasadena, "that poem of nature set to music beneath the swaying +rhythm of the pine forests of the lofty Sierra Madres," but is equally +enjoyable and admirable.</p> + +<p>Still, above all, and permeating every other interest, is the <i>orange</i>. +As to dampness, a physician threatened with consumption, and naturally +desirous of finding the driest air, began while at Coronado Beach a +simple but sure test for comparative degrees of "humidity" by just +hanging a woolen stocking out of his window at night. At that place it +was wet all through, quite moist at Los Angeles, very much less so at +Pasadena, dry as a bone or red herring or an old-fashioned sermon at +Riverside. Stockings will tell! (From April to September is really the +best time to visit Coronado.) I experienced a very sudden change from a +warm, delightful morning to an afternoon so penetrating by cold that I +really suffered during a drive, although encased in the heaviest of +Jaeger flannels, a woolen dress, and a heavy wrap. I thought of the +rough buffalo coat my uncle, a doctor, used to put on when called out +on a winter night in New Hampshire, and wished I was enveloped in +something like it, with a heated freestone, for feet and a hot potato +for each hand. If I can make my readers understand that these sudden +changes make flannels necessary, and that one needs to be as careful +here as in Canada as regards catching cold from night air and these +unexpected rigors, I shall feel, as the old writers used to say, "that I +have not written entirely in vain."</p> + +<p>In one day you can sit under the trees in a thin dress and be too warm +if the sun is at its best, and then be half frozen two hours later if +the wind is in earnest and the sun has retired. In the sun, Paradise; in +shade, protect yourself!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<h3>A LESSON ON THE TRAIN.</h3> + +<p style="text-align: center;">"The Schoolmistress Abroad."</p> + + +<p>All through Southern California I hear words of whose meaning I have no +idea until they are explained. For instance, a friend wrote from San +Diego in February: "Do not longer delay your coming; the mesas are +already bright with wild-flowers." A mesa is a plateau, or upland, or +high plain. And then there are fifty words in common use retained from +the Spanish rule that really need a glossary. As, arroyo, a brook or +creek; and arroyo seco, a dry creek or bed of extinct river.</p> + +<p>Alameda, an avenue.</p> + +<p>Alamitos, little cotton-wood.</p> + +<p>Alamo, the cotton-wood; in Spain, the poplar.</p> + +<p>Alma, soul.</p> + +<p>That is all I have learned in A's. Then for B's.</p> + +<p>I asked at Riverside what name they had for a big, big rock that rose +right out of the plain, and was told it was a "butte." That gave a +meaning to Butte City, and was another lesson.</p> + +<p>Banos means baths, and barranca is a small ravine.</p> + +<p>Then, if we go on alphabetically, cajon, pronounced <i>cahone</i>, is a box.</p> + +<p>Calaveras, skull.</p> + +<p>Campo, plain.</p> + +<p>Ciénaga, a marshy place.</p> + +<p>Campo sancto, cemetery.</p> + +<p>Canyon or cañon, gulch.</p> + +<p>Cruz, cross.</p> + +<p>Colorado, red.</p> + +<p>Some of the Spanish words are so musical it is a pleasure to repeat them +aloud; as:</p> + +<p>Ensenada, bright.</p> + +<p>Escondido, hidden.</p> + +<p>Fresno means ash.</p> + +<p>I inquired the meaning of "Los Gatos," and was kindly informed it was +"The Gates," but it really is "The Cats."</p> + +<p>Goleta, the name of another town, means schooner.</p> + +<p>The Spanish <i>j</i> nearly always has the sound of <i>h</i>.</p> + +<p>Jacinto, Hyacinth.</p> + +<p>José, Joseph.</p> + +<p>Lago is lake; pond, laguna; and for a little lake the pretty name +lagunita. "Lagunita Rancho" is the name of an immense fruit ranch in +Vacaville—and, by the way, vaca is cow.</p> + +<p>Madre is mother; nevada, snowy.</p> + +<p>San Luis Obispo is San Luis the Bishop.</p> + +<p>El Paso is The Pass.</p> + +<p>Pueblo, a town.</p> + +<p>Pinola is parched corn ground fine between stones, eaten with milk.</p> + +<p>Pinoche, chopped English walnuts cooked in brown sugar—a nice candy.</p> + +<p>Rancho, a farm; and rio, river.</p> + +<p>Everything is a ranch out here; the word in the minds of many stands +for home. A little four-year-old boy was overheard praying the other day +that when he died the Lord would take him to His ranch.</p> + +<p>Sacramento is the sacrament.</p> + +<p>Sierra, saw-toothed; an earthquake is a temblor.</p> + +<p>San and Santa, the masculine and feminine form of saint.</p> + +<p>As the men who laid out a part of New York evidently travelled with a +classical dictionary, and named the towns from that, as Rome, Syracuse, +Palmyra, Utica, so the devout Spanish explorer named the places where he +halted by the name of the saint whose name was on the church calendar +for that day. And we have San Diego (St. James), San Juan (St. John), +San Luis, San José, San Pedro, Santa Inez, Santa Maria, Santa Clara, +and, best of all, Santa Barbara, to which town we are now going.</p> + +<p>The Mexican dialect furnishes words which are now permanently +incorporated in our common speech; as:</p> + +<p>Adobe, sun-dried brick.</p> + +<p>Cañon, gorge.</p> + +<p>Tules, rush or water-weed. (Bret Harte's <i>Apostle of the Tules</i>.)</p> + +<p>Bonanza, originally <i>fair weather at sea</i>, now <i>good fortune in mining</i>.</p> + +<p>Fandango, dance of the people.</p> + +<p>Corral, a place to collect stock. (A farmer of the West never says +cow-pen, or barnyard, or farmyard, but corral.)</p> + +<p>Cascarones, egg-shells filled with finely cut gold or silver paper, or +perfumes, broken on head of young man, in friendly banter or challenge +to a dance.</p> + +<p>Burro, small kind of donkey.</p> + +<p>Broncho, wild, untamed animal.</p> + +<p>Sombrero, hat.</p> + +<p>Rebozo, scarf.</p> + +<p>Serape, blanket.</p> + +<p>Lariat, rawhide rope.</p> + +<p>Hacienda, estate.</p> + +<p>While we are rattling along there is so little to see until we reach +the ocean, that we may as well be recalling a few more facts worth +knowing. At Riverside I learned that the leaf of the orange tree was +larger when it first came out than later. It grows smaller as it +matures. And most people say that the fig tree has no blossom, the fruit +coming right out of the branch. But there is a blossom, and you have to +cut the fruit open to find it. Just split a young fig in two and notice +the perfect blossom in the centre.</p> + +<p>They say it takes two Eastern men to believe a Californian, but it only +takes one Eastern woman to tell true stories which do seem almost too +big for belief. One man got lost in a mustard field, and he was on +horseback too.</p> + +<p>I saw at San Diego a tomato vine only eight months old, which was +nineteen feet high and twenty-five feet wide, and loaded full of fruit +in January. A man picking the tomatoes on a stepladder added to the +effect. And a Gold of Ophir rose-bush at Pasadena which had 200,000 +blossoms. This is vouched for by its owner, a retired missionary, who +cannot be doubted. There are truly true pumpkins that weigh 256 pounds +and are seven feet in circumference; cucumbers seven feet long; seven +beets weighed 500 pounds; three bites to a strawberry; and the +eucalyptus shoots often grow twenty feet the first year, carrying with +them in their rapid ascension the stakes to which they were tied. All +this is true. But here are two stories which may be doubtful, just to +show what anecdotes are current in California. "A man was on top of a +California pumpkin chopping off a piece with an axe, when it dropped in. +He pulled up his ladder and put it down on the inside to look for it. +While groping about he met a man, who exclaimed, 'Hello! What are you +doing here?' 'Looking for my axe.' 'Gosh! you might as well give that +up. I lost my horse and cart in here three days ago, and haven't found +'em yet!'"</p> + +<p>"A farmer raised one thousand bushels of popcorn and stored it in a +barn. The barn caught fire, and the corn began to pop and filled a +ten-acre field. An old mare in a neighboring pasture had defective +eyesight, saw the corn, thought it was snow, and lay down and froze to +death."</p> + +<p>As to serious farming, and how it pays in this part of the State, I have +clipped several paragraphs from the papers, and will give three as +samples of the whole. I desire also to communicate the cheerful news +that there are no potato bugs to make life seem too hard to bear.</p> + + +<p style="text-align: center;">"RAISED ON TWENTY ACRES.</p> + +<p>"How much land do I need in California? is a question often asked. The +answer is readily made: as much as you can profitably and economically +work. A gentleman has made the following exhibit in the Los Angeles +Chamber of Commerce: 'Raised on twenty acres of ground, 2500 boxes of +oranges, 1500 boxes of lemons, 37,000 pounds of grapes, 2000 pounds of +pears, 35,000 pounds of apples, 15,000 pounds of berries, black and red, +1000 pounds of English walnuts. Besides nectarines, apricots, plums, +three crops of potatoes, 500 pounds of crab-apples, and one acre of +alfalfa kept for cows, and flowers of different varieties. These +oranges are worth on the trees $3500, the lemons $3000, the grapes $370, +pears $30, apples $75, berries $30, walnuts $80. The total will be +$7085, and all the products not counted. That surely is more than the +crops of a half section in Kansas or Illinois will sell for.' Every one +may not do as well, but they can approach it, and if they do, twenty +acres is quite enough."</p> + + +<p style="text-align: center;">"PROFITS OF BERRY CULTURE.</p> + +<p>"Speaking of the profits of growing strawberries in Southern California, +the Covina <i>Argus</i> gives some interesting facts and figures. That paper +says: 'One of the growers stated to us that last year he picked and +shipped from three acres the enormous amount of fourteen tons. These +berries brought as high as fifteen cents and as low as four cents per +pound, but netted an average of about eight cents per pound, or $2240. +That would make an acre of berries produce a cash return of $746.66⅔, +which, considering the shortness of the berry season, from four to five +months, is a pretty good income on the money invested.'"</p> + + +<p style="text-align: center;">"PROFIT IN ALMONDS.</p> + +<p>"M. Treat, an authority on almond culture, has contributed the following +to the Woodland <i>Mail</i>: 'This year from 190 California paper-shell +almond trees (five years old), covering two and five-sevenths acres, I +gathered 3502 pounds of nuts, which sold in Chicago at twenty-two cents +a pound. This is $316.82 to the acre—a little over $4 to the tree—18½ +pounds to the tree. When these same trees were four years old they +averaged about three pounds, and in eight years they will double what +they bore at five. They will at eight years bear full 40 pounds to the +tree. At twelve years they will bear fully 100 pounds to the tree +without the least exertion. This is at seventy trees to the acre, and +reckoning at twenty-two cents to the pound, $1540 per acre. Now these +are nothing but plain, bare, raw facts.</p> + +<p>"'Almond trees live and do well for fifty years, and in some places in +Europe when fifteen years old bear from 150 to 200 pounds per tree.'"</p> + + +<p>At Saugus Junction Mr. Tolfree has established one of his famous +restaurants, where I can conscientiously urge you to get out and dine. +Every course is delicious.</p> + +<p>Ventura County is partially devoted to the culture of Beans. I use a +capital because Beans represent Culture, or are associated with it in +one State at least, and the very meaning of the word is property, money, +from the French <i>biens</i>—goods. I wonder how many of my Boston friends +knew that! I did not until a friend showed it to me in Brewer's +phrase-book, where I also learned that beans played an important part in +the politics of the Greeks, being used in voting by ballot. I always had +a liking for beans, but I have a profound respect for them since viewing +the largest Lima Bean Ranch in the world, belonging to my friend Mr. +D. W. Thompson, of Santa Barbara. There are 2500 acres of rich land, +level as a house floor, bounded by a line of trees on one side and the +ocean on the other; 1600 acres are planted to beans, and the profits +are nearly $60,000 yearly. Thirty-six tons of beans were used this year +in planting. This could not be done in the East, but beans do not need +to be "poled" here, as, influenced by the dreamy atmosphere, they show +no desire to climb, but just lie lazily along the ground. Still, there +is a deal of work connected with the business. Dairying, building, +horseshoeing, repairing of machinery, are all done on the place. "As +soon as the spring rains are over, eleven gang ploughs, four ploughs to +a gang, each gang drawn by six horses, plough about seven acres per +day." Then the harrowing and planting in the same big way. During the +entire summer these vines grow without a drop of water, freshened daily +by the heavy sea fogs. Harvesting and threshing all done by machinery. +The steam thresher would amaze some of our overworked, land-poor +farmers. About one hundred and twenty carloads of beans are annually +shipped from this ranch, reserving the tons needed for seed.</p> + +<p>And all along the way fine ranches are seen, where beans are seen +growing alone, or planted between the long even rows of fruit trees. Mr. +Thompson also owns a large hog ranch. But dear me! We are now skirting +the beautiful ocean curve which leads to the "Channel City"—so near the +beach that the waves almost touch the rails and the dash of the surf +seems under the cars. See how fine a situation! The coast line taking a +sudden and most fortunate turn, the trend of mountain range and plain +land is east and west, instead of north and south. Sheltered by +mountains and mesas, and nestled in the green foot-hills, with the ocean +breeze tempered by a chain of islands, making a serene harbor, Santa +Barbara has much to make it the rival of San Diego and Pasadena. Pork +and beans must now give way to legend and romance, martyred virgin, holy +monks, untutored "neophytes," handsome Castilians, dashing Mexicans, +energetic pioneers, the old Spanish, the imported Chinese, the eastern +element now thoroughly at home, and the inevitable, ubiquitous invalid, +globe-trotter, and hotel habitué—each type or stratum as distinctly +marked as in a pousse café, or jelly cake. What a comparison! I ask +Santa Barbara's pardon, and beg not to be struck with lightning, or +destroyed by gunpowder.—"<i>Yes, to the Arlington.</i>"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<h3>SANTA BARBARA.</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Saints will aid if men will call,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For the blue sky bends o'er all."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>Sweet sixteen and an "awful dad." Santa Barbara and Dioscurus. Such a +cruel story, and so varied in version that the student of sacred legend +gets decidedly puzzled. The fair-haired daughter was advised secretly by +Origen, who sent a pupil disguised as a physician to instruct her in the +Christian faith. She insisted on putting three windows instead of two +into the bathroom of the tower to which her father sent her, either to +prevent her from marrying or to imprison her until she would wed one of +the many gay young suitors. These three windows showed her belief in the +Trinity, which she could not have learned from Origen, as among +Christians he was regarded as heretical, and his followers were +Unitarians and Universalists combined, adding the cheerful theory of the +"second opportunity" and that all punishment from sin would have an end, +yet clinging to the old pagan mythology and believing that sun, moon, +stars, and the ocean all had souls—a "Neo-Platonist."</p> + +<p>Refusing to recant, Barbara was arraigned and condemned to death. Her +energetic paternal evidently had heard the maxim, "If you want anything +done, do it yourself." His heavy blows fell soft as feathers. She seemed +in sweet slumber. So he drew his sword, cut off her head, and was +instantly killed by lightning from Heaven. Thus ends the history of two +"Early Fathers."</p> + +<p>But sweet St. Barbara will never be forgotten. She is the patroness of +artillery soldiers, and protects from lightning and sudden death. In the +many pictures where she appears she carries a feather, or the martyr's +sword and palm, or a book; and the three windows are often seen. She is +the only Santa who bears the cup and wafer.</p> + +<p>The appreciative Spaniards honored her memory by bestowing her pretty +name on the choicest spot of the coast, a belt of land seventy miles +long and thirty-five wide, from Point Concepcion to Buena Ventura. No +one can dare to doubt this tragic tale, for Barbara's head may still be +seen preserved as a relic in the temple of All Saints at Rome. I do not +want to be too severe in my estimate of the Roman noble, Dioscurus. An +old lady who never spoke ill of any one, when called upon to say +something good of the devil, said, "We might all imitate his +persistence;" and this impulsive demon was certainly a creature who, if +he had an unpleasant duty confronting him, attended to it himself.</p> + +<p>The first navigator who landed on the coast of Santa Barbara, or on one +of the four islands, was Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, in 1542. He is buried +on San Miguel (pronounced <i>Magell</i>). The Indians (and the entire Indian +population at that time amounted to 22,000) were exceedingly glad to +welcome the strangers, much better behaved than those found at San +Diego, who stripped the clothing from those too ill to defend +themselves. Perhaps a reason for this superiority may be found in the +fact that these tribes were entirely naked, and had no desire for any +conventional covering. They serenaded their new friends so loudly that +sleep or rest was impossible, and offered their most delicious food and +free use of canoes. They ate seeds, fruit, fish, locusts; hunted rabbit, +hare, and deer; dried the meat of the latter on trees; placed acorns in +a sieve basket, rinsed and boiled them. As every race is unhappy without +an intoxicating drink and something to chew or smoke, they extracted a +bitter beverage from a certain seed, and used a root in place of +tobacco.</p> + +<p>These Channel Indians let their hair grow so long that they could make +braids and fasten them round the face with stone rings. The visitors +spoke of the "Island of the Bearded People." They had substantial brush +huts, supported by pillars bearing inscriptions supposed to allude to +their religion, and they enjoyed dancing to the music of bone flutes. +For gifts, they most desired red calico and chocolate.</p> + +<p>Cabrillo's men found a primitive temple on one of the islands, and in it +an unknown god or idol. One of the eight original tribes had a form of +worship strongly resembling a Turkish bath. The men sat round a hot fire +until drenched in perspiration; then plunged into a pool of cold water. +The women were not permitted to be devout in this "cleanliness next to +godliness" manner. It was a luxury and prerogative the noble braves +wanted entirely for themselves. (We see something similar in our own +progressive, enlightened churches, where women are expected to provide +and pack clothing for missionary boxes, attend unfailingly on the stated +means of grace, visit and nurse the sick and poor members, deny +themselves for charity, listen reverently to stupid discourses on the +unknown, delivered with profound certainty that approaches omniscience, +but are not allowed to "speak out in meetin'," or to have the honor of +being represented by women delegates at denominational conventions, or +clubs and councils. They are to lead heavenward, but earthly pleasures +and honors are strictly "reserved"! About the same, isn't it?)</p> + +<p>When Father Junipero Sena reached Santa Barbara on his mission-starting +pilgrimage, he sent for Mexican artisans, who taught his converts all +the industrial arts. They were taught to support themselves, then a +piece of ground was parcelled out to each, with a yoke of oxen and +farming utensils. Serra formed eleven missions; ten were added later. He +built the great aqueduct which is still used in Santa Barbara. All honor +to his memory! "There lingers around Santa Barbara more of the aroma and +romance of a bygone civilization, when the worthy Padres set an example +of practical Christianity to the Indian aborigines that we would do well +to emulate, than is found elsewhere in the State."</p> + +<p>In the good old days a person could travel from San Diego to San +Francisco and not expend one shilling. The Mission Fathers would furnish +saddle, horse, or a comfortable bed, meals, and the Spanish host would +leave in the guest-chamber a small heap of silver covered by a cloth, +and the stranger, if needy, was expected to take some of it to supply +his wants.</p> + +<p>Would you like to see a specimen of the Indian dialect used by the +"Bearded People"? I can count to five in the Siujtu language—or, at +least, I don't care to go much further: paca, sco, masa, scu, itapaca; +twenty is sco-quealisco; and to-morrow, huanahuit.</p> + +<p>The islands are now only occupied by flocks of sheep, sheared twice a +year, and paying their owners a good profit; $100,000 one year from +Santa Rosa alone. The wool gets full of seed, and it is not the finest +quality, but this is counterbalanced by the quantity.</p> + +<p>Many large abalone shells are found on San Miguel. They are pried off +with a crow-bar, the shells are polished for sale, made into buttons, +etc., and the meat is dried and sent to China, where it is ground and +made into soup. It has been used here, and pronounced by some to be +equal to terrapin, and by others to closely resemble leather.</p> + +<p>These islands are always a delight to look upon. As the state of the +atmosphere varies they seem near or far away, clearly defined, or with a +hazy outline. But in sunlight or shadow, mist or mirage, they are ever +beautiful. Within the peaceful channel ships are safe while a wind storm +rages just beyond. The government sends big war-ships here for a trial +of speed. None of these islands are now desirable for residence. There +is no natural supply of fresh water, and the sheep rely on the moisture +left by the heavy fogs, and on a certain plant which holds water in its +cup-like blossom. I hear that at Catalina the goats, deprived of their +natural pabulum of hoop-skirts, tomato cans, and old shoes, feed on +clover and drink the dew.</p> + +<p>That's what this climate does for a goat. I do not dare to make many +statements in regard to novelties in natural history since one poor +woman poetized upon the coyote "howling" in the desert, and roused +hundreds of critics to deny that coyotes ever howled. And a scientific +student came to Santa Barbara not so long ago, and found on one of these +islands a species of tailless fox, and hastened to communicate the +interesting anomaly to the Smithsonian Institute. It seems that the +otter hunters trapped these foxes for their tails, then let them go.</p> + +<p>If it were not for these blunders I would state that roosters seem to +keep awake most of the night in Southern California, and can be heard +crowing at most irregular hours. Considering the risks, I refrain.</p> + +<p>The islands were named by a pious priest, who made the map; and those we +see in looking out from Santa Barbara are San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa +Cruz, Ana, Capa. San Nicholas Island is interesting as having been the +abode for sixteen years of a solitary Indian woman, a feminine Robinson +Crusoe, without even a Friday, who was left by mistake when the rest of +the Indians were carried away by order of the Mission Fathers. Two of +the men who at last succeeded in finding her gave their testimony, which +has been preserved; and one of them, Charlie Brown, is still alive, and +likes to tell the strange story. It seems she had run back to get her +child, and the ship went off without her. Nidever tells his story in +this way:</p> + +<p>"We scattered off two or three hundred yards apart. She had a little +house made of brush and had a fire; she was sitting by the fire with a +little knife; she was working with it. She had a bone; all came up and +looked at her; she had a heap of roots—that is what she lived on—and +had little sacks to carry them in. As soon as we sat down she put a lump +of them to roast on the fire. Finally we got ready to go, and we made +signs for her to come with us. She understood the signs for her to come +with us; she picked up her things to take them on board."</p> + +<p>She had a dress made of duck skins, sewed together with the sinews of a +seal, with needles made of bone—an eye drilled through. This dress the +priests sent to Rome.</p> + +<p>The demijohn in which she carried water was made out of rushes and +stopped with asphaltum. She was making one of these water bottles. She +heated small round stones in the fire and put them in the asphaltum, and +then lined the bottle, making it tight. She had no matches, of course, +nor even a tinder-box, but started fire by rubbing two sticks together.</p> + +<p>She said her child was eaten up by wolves. None of the Indians +understood her dialect; finally one woman was found who could talk to +her a little, who had been raised on the same island. The woman was +found in 1853. She seemed happy and contented, and would go round to +different houses and dance the Indian dances. She was a great curiosity; +twenty or thirty would go along with her. Many who were sailing by would +stop just to see her.</p> + +<p>The other hunters had noticed small human tracks, but never could see +any one. At last several men were scattered all over the island, and +Charlie Brown was the first to discover her. He thought at first it was +only a black crow sitting on a whalebone. I give his version, as his +language is far more picturesque and vivid than my paraphrase would be. +He says:</p> + +<p>"She had built a brush fence about two feet high to break the wind. The +sun was coming in her face. She was skinning a seal. The dog when he +noticed me he began to growl. I thought if she should run. I stepped +right round her, and she bowed as if she knew me before, and when the +Indians came up they all kneeled down, and when she saw there was some +of her color, she held out some of her food and offered all some.</p> + +<p>"I took her by the shoulder, and I said, '<i>Varmoose</i>,' and she +understood at once. I took everything she had, and she took a big seal +head in basket. We all had something to carry. Then she had a little +brand of fire, and she took that away and wobbled along with a strange +kind of a step like until we came to a watering-place about fifty feet +down the bank, and they all went down there and she went too, and she +sat down there and we watched to see what she would do, and she washed +herself over; her hair was all rotting away, a kind of bleached by the +sun, and we got to the vessel and she kneeled down, and we had a stove +right on deck and she crawled to the stove and we gave her a piece of +biscuit and she ate like a good fellow. It came on to blow; old man +Nidever had some bed-ticking. I made her a dress, and gave her a man's +shirt. She was tickled to death. If I was where she was she would hold +up her dress and point that I made it."</p> + +<p>He was asked how she happened to be left, repeated Nidever's story, and +added: "She found they were all gone, and commenced to hollo. No answer, +and hunted round and saw the tracks and found they went to lower part of +the island. When she got there found the vessel going away, and she +called, 'Mancyavina,' but it never came. She put her head on the ground +and laid on the ground and cried, and they never came.</p> + +<p>"The priest here had all the Indians in Santa Barbara and Santa Inez to +see if they understood her. They could understand some words, but not +all. She got baptized, and they made her a Christian and everything. A +steamer came up from below; the captain offered to take her up and show +her, but old man Nidever would not agree. She died; they gave her green +corn and melons, and they were too much for her. She made knives of +bone and wood, and had pointed nails for catching fish. She had ropes +nicely twisted with sinews, twisted as true as any rope-maker could +make, and had bottles made of grass, and dishes of wood with handles; +she put the feathers next her skin to keep warm."</p> + +<p>I will only add that wild dogs were numerous, and she tamed them for +friends. The priests called her Juana Maria, and I think the name of the +island should be changed in her honor. I doubt if Santa Barbara herself +could have done as well under similar circumstances.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<h3>HER CITY AND COUNTY.</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Syrian apples, Othmanee quinces,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Limes and citrons and apricots,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And wines that are known to Eastern princes."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>In walking through the streets of Santa Barbara you may still see the +various types, but not so clearly defined as of old. Holy Fathers still +intone the service within the massive mission walls; they still +cultivate the large garden, from which woman is sedulously excluded. But +the faces are German and Irish. At a street corner two men are talking +earnestly, and as you pass you get a glance from Mexican eyes, dark and +soft, but the hair shows Indian blood. A real old Mexican vaquero rides +by in the genuine outfit, well worn and showing long use; next a +carriage full of fashionable visitors; then a queerer combination than +the Anglomaniac with his trousers legs turned up if the cable reports a +rainy day in London. This is the American vaquero—usually a short, fat +man with dumpy legs, who dons a flapping sombrero, buys a new Mexican +saddle, wooden stirrups, and leather riata, sometimes adding a coil of +rope at left side, wears the botas with a corduroy suit at dinner at +hotel, and doesn't know at all how comical an appearance he presents. +The very next to pass is one of the pioneers, who, although worth a +million or more, puts on no style, and surveys the mongrel in front with +a twinkle in his eye. Every one should own a horse or pony or burro +here, for the various drives are the greatest charm of the place. +Through all Southern California the happy children ride to school, where +the steeds, fastened to fence in front of building, wait patiently in +line, like Mary's lamb. But in Santa Barbara you see mere tots on +horseback, who look as if it were no new accomplishment. I believe the +mothers put them on gentle ponies to be cared for, or safe, as mothers +in general use the cradle or high-chair. One of the old Mexican +residents of Santa Barbara, when over eighty years of age, had the +misfortune to break his leg. He lay in bed uneasily until a surgeon +could be summoned and the fractured bones set and duly encased in +plaster. He then insisted on being carried out and placed upon his +favorite horse, where he sat during each day with patient serenity until +the damage was repaired by nature.</p> + +<p>The drives are all delightful. You cannot make a mistake; there are +twenty-eight drives distinct and beautiful. Those best known are, to the +Mission Cañon, to the Lighthouse, to Montecito and Carpenteria, Cooper's +Ranch, through the far-famed Ojai Valley, and the stage or coaching trip +to San Luis Obispo, not forgetting La Vina Grande (the big grapevine), +the trunk eighteen inches in diameter, foliage covering 10,000 square +feet, producing in one year 12,000 pounds of grapes; and the Cathedral +Oaks. I jotted down a few facts at the Lighthouse <i>a la</i> Jingle in +<i>Pickwick Papers</i>: gleaming white tower, black lantern, rising from neat +white cottage, green window-shutters, light 180 feet above sea-level, +fine view from balcony, fields of young barley down to water's edge, +bluest blue in sea and sky, the lamp holds only one quart of oil, +reflectors do big business, considering, throwing the light 417 miles.</p> + +<p>The keeper, a woman, has been there over thirty years, never goes away +for a single night, trim, quaint, and decided, doesn't want to be +written up, will oblige her, don't believe a woman ever did so much good +with a quart of kerosene daily before. Been a widow a long time, heard +of one woman, wife of lighthouse-keeper, he died, she too stout to be +gotten out of the one room, next incumbent married her.</p> + +<p>Montecito, as Roe described it, is a village of charming gardens and +green lawns, with a softer climate even than Santa Barbara—a most +desirable situation for an elegant country retreat. I had the privilege +of visiting the home of Mr. W. P. Gould, a former resident of Boston, +who has one of the most perfect places I have ever seen. He has been +experimenting this year with olive oil in one room of his large house +for curing lemons, and has perfected a machine which expresses the +"virgin oil" without cracking a single pit or stone. This is a great +improvement, as one crushed stone will give an acrid taste to a quart of +oil. There is a fashion in fruits as much as in bonnets or sleeves. +Olive culture is just now the fad. Pears, prunes, almonds, walnuts, have +each had their day, or their special boom. Pomona is headquarters for +the olive industry. Nursery men there sold over 500,000 trees last year. +The tree does not require the richest soil. Hon. Elwood Cooper's olive +oil is justly famous, but the machinery designed by Mr. Gould makes a +much purer oil, pronounced by connoisseurs to be the finest in the +world. The olives are sun-dried; the ponderous rollers and keen knives +of the masher mash the fruit, and every after-process is the perfection +of cleanliness and skill. There is a nutty sweetness about this oil, and +a clear amber color, which makes it most desirable for the fastidious +invalid.</p> + +<p>This new process has been purchased by a company who are going to try to +give the country what it has never known before—pure olive oil, free +from a bit of the stone. No pure oil is brought to our country. The +public think the price too high; they prefer to buy cotton-seed oil at +thirty-five cents a gallon, and this is adulterated with peanuts, +sunflowers, and so on. This will do for the masses, but the best is none +too good if it can be found.</p> + +<p>Few appreciate the medicinal value of olive oil. Nations making use +regularly of this and the fruit are freed from dyspepsia. A free use in +the United States would round out Brother Jonathan's angular spareness +of form, and make him less nervous and less like the typical Yankee of +whom the witty Grace Greenwood said: "He looks as if the Lord had made +him and then pinched him." One does not see the orange groves here, but +the lemon trees and walnuts and olives are an agreeable change—just for +a change.</p> + +<p>"Who ever thinks of connecting such a commonplace article of diet as the +lemon with the romantic history of ill-fated Anne Boleyn? Yet, +indirectly, she was the cause of its first introduction into England, +and so into popular notice. Henry VIII., who, if he rid himself of his +wives like a brute, certainly won them like a prince, gave such splendid +feasts and pageants in honor of the coronation of Anne and of their +previous nuptials as had seldom been accorded to queens of the royal +blood. These kingly entertainments were in turn followed by the great +civic feast of London, for which the whole world was searched for +delicacies to add to the splendor. At one such banquet, graced by the +presence of the royal pair, a lemon was introduced as an elegant +novelty. To an epicure such as Henry, the acquisition of a castle in +France would have proved less acceptable, and such was the importance +attached to the discovery—so says an old biographer—that a special +record was made of the fact that the cost of this precious lemon was six +silver pennies."</p> + +<p>We hear nothing of irrigation, but almost everything will thrive without +it. The soil grows well all varieties of fruits found in the Eastern and +New England States, besides all the semi-tropical fruits, as guavas, +loquats, persimmons, dates, etc. As the Rev. Mr. Jackson says: "Could +it be shown that the primitive Eden bore as many fruits pleasant to the +taste, it would add a new pang to the thought of original sin."</p> + +<p>The number of native trees seems small, but trees have been naturalized +here from every part of the world. The pepper tree is from Peru, also +the quinine tree: from Chili, the monkey tree and the Norfolk Island +pine.</p> + +<p>Mr. Cooper imported the eucalyptus from Australia. It grows rapidly, and +is planted for windbreaks. It is used for firewood, and when cut down +nearly to the ground will start up with the same old courage and +ambition. Its roots are so eager for water that they make long detours, +sometimes even climbing up and down a stone wall, if it is in their +route, or into a well. From the same country comes the acacia, the +rubber tree, and a large number of shrubs. New Zealand contributes her +share, and to China and Japan they are indebted for the camphor tree, +the gingko, the loquat, and the chestnuts. To South Africa they are +indebted for the silver tree, and from the northern part of that +country the date-palm and the tamarind.</p> + +<p>One sees side by side here, and in Pasadena, trees from almost opposite +climes: the New England elm and a cork tree, a cedar of Lebanon and a +maple or an English oak. Then the glorious palm—twenty-two varieties in +Montecito Valley alone.</p> + +<p>Sydney Smith said of the fertility of Australia, "Tickle her with a hoe +and she laughs with a harvest." But in California even the hoe is not +needed, for "volunteer crops" come up all by themselves, and look better +than ours so carefully cultivated. They say that if a Chinaman eats a +watermelon under a tree the result is a fine crop of melons next year. +And I read of a volunteer tomato plant ploughed down twice that measured +twelve feet square, and bore thousands of small red tomatoes.</p> + +<p>Alfalfa is an ever-growing crop—can be garnered five times each year.</p> + +<p>And as for flowers, I really cannot attempt to enumerate or describe in +detail. There are hundreds of varieties of roses. They were found +growing wild by myriads, and have been most carefully cultivated and +improved. One rose tree in the grounds of the Arlington Hotel has spread +over sixty feet of the veranda, and three lady guests have climbed into +its branches at once. As one man said: "The roses here would climb to +the moon if a trellis could be provided."</p> + +<p>A friend sent me twenty-five large bunches of the choicest roses from +her garden one morning in April, each bunch a different variety. Their +roses are shipped in large quantities to San Francisco, and Chicago has +her churches decorated at Easter from the rose gardens of Santa Barbara.</p> + +<p>Honey naturally is thought of. Apiculture here is a great business. The +bee has to be busy all day long and all through the year—no rest. One +ingenious fellow proposed crossing the working bee with the firefly, so +it could work all night long by its own lantern. But this is better. I +hear wondrous stories of bees getting into cracks of church towers or +upper stories, and bulging out the buildings with their accumulated +stores—positively cartloads of sweetness. Think of honey made from +orange flowers selling at five cents a pound!</p> + +<p>A clergyman writing of Santa Barbara County says that twenty-five years +ago all their vegetables were imported. Now beans yield a ton to the +acre, potatoes two hundred and fifty bushels per acre, and he has seen +potatoes that weighed six, seven, and eight and a half pounds—as much +as an ordinary baby; beets, seventy-five tons to the acre; carrots, +thirty. Mr. Webster once declared in Congress that this State could +never raise a bushel of grain. Corn yields fifty bushels to the acre; +barley, sixty; wheat, thirty. Others give much higher records: corn, one +hundred and thirty bushels; barley, eighty; potatoes, four hundred; +forty tons of squashes, four tons of hay, sixty tons of beets.</p> + +<p>I have spoken of stock-raising. Dairying is a profitable industry. +Poultry farming a little uncertain. If interested in mining there is +much to explore. Just in this county are found gold, silver, copper, +asphaltum, bituminous rock, gypsum, quicksilver, natural gas, and +petroleum.</p> + +<p>And what sort of a climate does one find? Santa Barbara is an +all-year-round resort. It has all that one could ask.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The mountains look on Marathon,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Marathon looks on the sea."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>It is a perpetual summer—sometimes a cold and rainy June, sometimes a +little too warm, sometimes a three days' sand-storm, disagreeable and +trying; but it is always June, as we in New England know June. At least +it is Juney from 9 A.M. until 4 P.M. Just before sunset the temperature +falls. Then when the sun goes rapidly in or down it is like being out at +sea. And to a sensitive patient, with nerves all on outside, chilled by +the least coolness, it is unpleasantly piercing.</p> + +<p>When any one describes Santa Barbara to you as a town</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Where winds are hushed nor dare to breathe aloud,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where skies seem never to have borne a cloud,"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>remember that this applies truthfully to "a Santa Barbara day," but +<i>not</i> to all days. Surf bathers go in every month of the year. But this +does not alter the fact that a person would be disappointed and consider +himself deceived if he accepted the general idea of absolute heaven on +earth. The inhabitants do not wish such exaggerations and +misrepresentations to go forth. California can bear to have the whole +truth told, and still be far ahead. Who wants eternal sunshine, eternal +monotony?</p> + +<p>The temperature during the day varies little. I see that one resident +compares it with May in other parts of the country. I think he has never +tried to find a picnic day in early May in New England. He says: "Our +coldest month is warmer than April at Philadelphia, and our warmest one +much cooler than June at same place." They did have one simoon in 1859, +when the mercury rose to 133°, and stayed there for eight hours. Animals +and birds died, trees were blasted and burned, and gardens ruined. But +that was most "unusual."</p> + +<p>Flannels are worn the year round. Average of rain, seventeen inches. +There are sixty-one mineral and medicinal springs in California that +are already famous. Here we can take hot sulphur baths, and drink the +nauseous water that is said to cure almost all diseases.</p> + +<p>Farming is comparatively easy. But grapevines are smitten by a +mysterious disease called "cellular degeneration," and phylloxera; a +black scale that injures orange and olive, and a white scale that is +worse. Apples are not free from worms; the gopher is sure to go for +every root it can find. There was a serpent even in the original Eden. +The historian remarks: "The cloddish, shiftless farmer is perhaps safer +in Massachusetts." I think of experiences at "Gooseville," and decide +not to buy, nor even rent a ranch, nor accept one if offered. "Fly to +ills I know not of?" No, thank you!</p> + +<p>I'm tired now of agriculture and climate, and will turn to less +practical themes. You sympathize. We will stop and begin a new chapter, +with a hope of being more interesting.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + +<h3>IN GALA DRESS.</h3> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The sun is warm, the sky is clear,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The waves are dancing, fast and bright;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Both isles and snowy mountains wear<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The purple noon's transparent light."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p>To see Santa Barbara at its best you must go there for the Floral +Carnival. Then at high noon, on a mid-April day, all State Street is +brilliantly decorated with leaves of the date-palm, pampa plumes, moss +combined with tropical foliage, calla-lilies, wildflowers, bamboo, +immortelles, branches of pepper trees, evergreens, lemon boughs laden +with yellow fruit, and variegated shrubs. Draperies of white and gold, +with green or red in contrast, or blue and white, in harmony with red +flowers, or floral arches draped with fish-nets bestrewn with pink +roses; or yellow alone in draperies combined with the poppy, or gray +moss and roses. No one fails to respond to the color summons for the +day of days. The meat-markets are tastefully concealed with a leafy +screen and callas. The undertaker makes his place as cheerful as +possible with evergreens, roses, and red geraniums. The drugstore is +gaily trimmed, and above the door see the great golden mortar made of +marigolds. The Mexican and Californian colors are often flung out, and +flags are flying from many windows. The long broad street is a blaze of +glory; the immense audience, seated on tiers of benches, wait patiently, +then impatiently, for the expected procession; and as many more people +are standing in line, equally eager. Many have baskets or armfuls of +flowers, with which to pelt the passing acquaintance. There are moments +of such intense interest that everything is indelibly and eternally +photographed. I see, as I write, the absolutely cloudless sky of perfect +blue, the sea a darker shade, equally perfect, the white paved street, +the kaleidoscope of color, the fluttering pennants, the faces of the +crowd all turned in one direction, and hark! the band is really coming, +the beginning of the pageant is just seen, and now sea, sky, flags, +crowds are no more regarded, for the long-talked-of parade is here. See +advancing the Grand Commander and his showy aids, gay Spanish cavaliers, +the horses stepping proudly, realizing the importance of the occasion, +the saddles and bridles wound with ribbons or covered with flowers. And +next the Goddess of Flowers, in canopy-covered shell, a pretty little +Mayflower of a maiden, with a band of maids of honor, each in a dainty +shell. The shouts and applause add to the excitement, and flowers are +hurled in merry war at the cavaliers, and the goddess and her +attendants. Next comes the George Washington coach, modelled after the +historic vehicle, occupied by stately dames and courtly gentlemen in +colonial array; even the footmen are perfection in the regulation livery +of that period. Solemn and imposing this may be, but they get a +merciless shower of roses, and one of the prizes. And do look at the +haymakers! Oh, that is charming! Country girls and boys on a load of +new-mown hay, with broad-brimmed hats, and dresses trimmed with +wild-flowers. And now the advance-guard is coming down again; they have +just turned at the head of the line, and it is already a little +confusing. But the judges! How can they keep cool, or even think, with +such a clamor of voices, and guests chattering thoughtlessly to them. +Here comes a big basket on wheels, handle and all covered with moss and +roses. Four girls in pink silk trimmed with moss stand within, bearing +shields of pink roses to protect their laughing faces from excess of +attention. What a lovely picture! Another basket just behind covered +entirely with marguerites; the wheels also are each a marguerite, the +white horses with harness covered with yellow ribbon—so dainty, so +cool. Is it better than the other? And here is a Roman chariot, a +Spanish market-wagon, a phaeton covered with yellow mustard, a hermit in +monastic garb; then Robin Hood and his merry men, and Maid Marian in +yellow-green habit, Will Scarlet and Friar Tuck in green doublets, +yellow facings, bright green felt hats, bows and quivers flower-trimmed, +even the tiny arrows winged with blossoms. Now there are equipages +three deep to survey instead of one, as they pass and repass in +bewildering splendor. And do look! Here come the comicalities! "The Old +Woman who lived in a Shoe"—a big floral slipper, with a dozen children +in pink and gray-green, and the old woman on great poke-bonnet; a +Japanese jinrikisha; an egg of white flowers, and a little boy hid away +so as to peep and put out a downy head as a yellow chicken; a bicycle +brigade; equestriennes; an interesting procession of native +Californians, with the accoutrements of the Castilian, on horseback. One +carriage is banked with marigolds, and the black horses are harnessed in +yellow of the exact shade. It is fitly occupied by black-eyed Spanish +beauties, with raven hair done up high with gold combs, and black lace +costumes with marigolds for trimming, and takes a well-deserved prize.</p> + +<p>Roses, roses, roses, roses! How they fly and fall as the fleeting +display is passing! Thirty thousand on one carriage. Roses cover the +street. And yet the gardens don't seem stripped. Where millions are +blooming thousands are not missed. And not roses alone, but every flower +of field and garden and conservatory is honored and displayed. Now the +contestants are driving up to the grand stand to secure silken banners. +Every one looks a little bit weary in procession and audience. Is it +over? I murmur regretfully:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"All that's bright must fade,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The brightest still the fleetest;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All that's sweet was made<br /></span> +<span class="i2">But to be lost when sweetest."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Yes, it is over! Waving banners, rainbow colors, showers of blossoms, +rosy faces, mimic battle, fairy scenes, the ideal realized!</p> + +<p>This is better than the New Orleans Mardi Gras, so often marred by rain +and mud, with mythological ambiguities that few can understand, and +difficult to interpret in passing tableaux; better than similar display +at Nice and Mentone. <i>This</i> I do call "unique" and the only. Let Santa +Barbara have this yearly festa for her own. She has fairly won the +preëminence.</p> + +<p>We at the comparatively frozen and prosaic north can indulge in gay +coaching parades at Franconia, Newport, or Lenox, where costumes of +gorgeous hues assist the natural beauty of the flowers. But it is only a +coaching parade, at the wind-up of a gay season. We cannot catch the +evanescent glamour, the optical enchantment, the fantastic fun, the +exquisite art of making long preparation and hard work, careful schemes +for effect, appear like airy nonsense for the amusement of an idle hour. +We show the machinery. A true carnival can only be a success in a +perpetual "summer-land," "within a lovely landscape on a bright and +laughing seacoast." Taine said, "Give me the race, the surroundings, and +the epoch, and I show you the man." Give me fair women, roses, sunshine, +leisure, and high-bred, prancing steeds, and I show you this Santa +Barbara Carnival.</p> + +<p>But this is only a portion of the entertainment. There is a display of +flowers at the Pavilion, where everything can be found that blooms in +California, all most artistically arrayed; and more fascinating in the +evening, when hundreds of tiny electric lights twinkle everywhere from +out the grayish-green moss, and the hall is filled with admiring guests. +There is always a play given one evening by amateur talent, a +tournament, and a grand closing ball.</p> + +<p>The tournament is exciting, where skilful riders try tilting at rings, +trying to take as many rings as possible on lance while galloping by the +wires on which these rings are lightly suspended—-a difficult +accomplishment. Their costumes are elaborate and gay, but never <i>outrè</i> +or bizarre, and no two alike. Each has his own color, and, like the +knights of old, has a fayre ladye among the spectators who is especially +interested and anxious for his success.</p> + +<p>Next comes the Spanish game of "colgar," picking up ten-dollar gold +pieces from the saddle, the horse at full speed. And the gymkhana race +ends the games. Those who enter, saddle at the word "go," open an +umbrella, and, taking out a cigar, light and smoke it—then see who +first rides to the goal.</p> + +<p>Last came the real <i>vaqueros</i>, and they ride untamed, unbroken horses, +after a long and rather painful struggle to mount. They lasso mustangs +and do wonderful things. But it was too much. I was glad to go and rest.</p> + +<p>The Flower Dance at the ball, where human flowers formed intricate +figures and dances for our edification and delight, was so attractive +that my words are of no avail. Picture twenty-eight young ladies, each +dressed to represent a flower—hollyhock, pansy, moss, rose, +morning-glory, eucalyptus blossom, pink clover, yellow marguerite, +Cherokee rose, pink carnation, forget-me-not, buttercup, pink-and-white +fuchsia, lily of the valley, wine-colored peony, white iris, daffodil, +and so on. They advance with slowly swaying motion, with wreaths +uplifted until they reach the stage, where sit the guests of honor. +There they bow low, then lay the garlands at their feet, and retire, +forming ingeniously pretty groups and figures, while bees and +butterflies flit in and out. See the bees pursuing the little pink +rosebuds until at last they join hands and dance gaily away, only to be +enthusiastically recalled.</p> + +<p>Do you ladies want to understand a little in detail about the dresses? +Of course you do. Well, here is the yellow marguerite:</p> + +<p>Slender petals of yellow satin falling over a skirt of white silk crêpe, +a green satin calyx girdle about her waist, and golden petals drooped +again from the neck of her low bodice and over her shoulders.</p> + +<p>A handsome brunette represented a wine-colored peony in a rich costume +of wine-colored velvet and satin. The petals fell to make the skirt, and +rose again from a bell sheathing the neck of her low corsage, and the +cap on her dark hair was a copy of the flower.</p> + +<p>There, you see how it is done. But it requires genius to succeed in such +an undertaking. Look at Walter Crane's pictures of human flowers for +more suggestions.</p> + +<p>Most effective of all was the cachuca, danced by a girl of pure +Castilian blood, who was dressed to symbolize the scarlet passionflower. +The room was darkened save where she stood, and her steps and poses were +full of Spanish fire and feeling, combined with poetic grace.</p> + +<p>Yes, it is over, but the pictures remain as freshly colored as if I saw +it all but yesterday.</p> + +<p>During the Carnival sentiment reigns supreme—that is, if you have +engaged rooms far in advance, and the matter of three daily meals is +settled—and portly business men become gallant, chivalrous, and even +poetic. In testimony I offer two verses sent to a lady visitor with a +bunch of roses:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"We had not thought it was for aught<br /></span> +<span class="i2">He lingered round us, scanning,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But to admire our spring attire,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The south wind softly fanning.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"But when we knew it was for you<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Our charms he sought to capture,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">All round the bower each budding flower<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Blushed pink with rosy rapture.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6">"Lovingly,<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i8">THE ROSES."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>George Eliot once said: "You love the roses—so do I! I wish the sky +would rain down roses as they rain from off the shaken bush. Why will it +not? Then all the valleys would be pink and white, and soft to tread on. +They would fall as light as feathers, smelling sweet; and it would be +like sleeping and yet waking all at once."</p> + +<p>She never knew Santa Barbara.</p> + +<p>I said the horses feel proud, and their owners tell me how they turn +their heads to see their adornment. And well they may, for a true +Barbareno loves his horse as does the Arab, and delights in his +decoration. Easily first in this matter is Mr. W. D. Thompson, who came +to Santa Barbara from Maine more than forty years ago, a nephew of the +captain with whom Dana sailed. Mr. Thompson is a progressive man, who +appreciates the many improvements achieved and contemplated, but still +loves to tell of the good old times when he was roughing it as a +pioneer. He has done a most important and valuable work in having a +typical Mexican saddle and bridle of the most approved and correct +pattern made out of the finest leather and several thousand silver +dollars. As his favorite mare stood before me with this magnificent +saddle on, and her forelegs tied with a little strap so that she could +step daintily but not run, I never saw such a pretty sight of the kind. +This saddle and bridle, worth over $3000, are now on exhibition in +Chicago. No more significant or beautiful exhibition of the early +argonautic period could be sent from Southern California, and it will +surely attract constant and admiring attention. Here is a description +from the San Francisco <i>Argonaut</i>:</p> + +<p>"This saddle and bridle, manufactured of bullion from Mexican dollars, +are exquisite works of art. The saddle is of typical Mexican pattern, +with a high pommel, well-hollowed seat, and the most elaborate of +trappings. The leather is stamped with elegant designs, and the whole +thing is a complete, costly, and elaborate equipment, of good taste and +artistic design. The saddle is studded over with silver ornaments. The +leather facings are set thick with buttons and rosettes; the pommel is +encased in silver; the corners of the aprons are tipped with silver; the +stirrups are faced and edged with silver half an inch thick, elaborately +chased and carved. The saddle-tree is hung with silver rings, fore and +aft, to answer all the requirements of the vaquero in lacing up his +riata. The girth, which passes under the horse's belly and cinches the +saddle in place, is woven of hair from horses' manes by a native +artisan, and is fully eight inches broad, with a tassel hanging at its +middle. The saddle, the bridle, and all its appointments are marvels of +beauty. The reins, martingale, and whip are composed of solid silver in +woven strands. The headstall is covered with fluted silver, with large +engraved silver rosettes at the sides, with decorations of flowers and +heads of wheat, with an elaborate nose-piece with silver engraving. The +side-pieces are of silver, massive and ornate, with a silver chain under +the horse's jaw. The bridle, reins, and accessories weigh about twelve +pounds, and are worth not less than two hundred and fifty dollars in +value of silver coin used in its manufacture."</p> + +<p>Everybody up and down the coast knows Dixie Thompson. His talk is full +of delightful anecdotes of the early settlers, and he has a droll, dry +humor of his own that is refreshing. Mr. Nordhoff, who is an old +friend, once wrote to the Harper "Drawer" about his shrewd way of +restraining the over-keen traders and laboring men who tried to impose +upon him. He heads the pleasant bit of gossip, "Captain Thompson's +Club," and says:</p> + +<p>"Captain Dixie is, to all appearance, the man of most leisure in all +leisurely Santa Barbara. He and his horses and carriages are always at +the service of a friend. But while he seems to be the idlest of men, he +is, in fact, an extremely capable business man who has many irons in the +fire—tills much good land, has horses and cattle and pigs of the best +breeds on many hills and in several rich valleys, and keeps all his +affairs running in good order. Still, he is an easy-going, not a +bustling, man of business. And it is just here that his social +contrivance comes in: he has judged it expedient to form a club.</p> + +<p>"'You see,' said he, the other day, to an old friend, 'the boys don't +always see me around, and sometimes they try to take a little advantage. +I find a fellow who don't haul half a load for me while I am paying for +a full load; another one who gives me short measure; or another who does +not do what I have told him. I hate to scold; and as they all deny when +I accuse them, and I can't be telling men that they are lying to me, I +thought I'd just establish a Liars' Club and bring them all in. It is +now in good, healthy operation. We don't call it the Liars' Club, of +course; we speak of the Club. But when I catch a man trying to 'do' me, +I just tell him that I'll have to make him a member of the Club.—Oh, +how do you do, Mr. President?' said Captain Dixie to a well-known +character just then passing by.—'He's the president of the Club, you +know,' he added. 'Here's Pancho now; I told him the other day I would +have to make him a member of the Club if he didn't look out. I guess +he'll get in yet. It's a very flourishing club, and more useful, I +guess, than some others.'</p> + +<p>"Don't laugh, my dear Drawer. I believe Captain Thompson has struck an +admirable idea, and one which might well have wide application. Don't +you suppose the material for such a club exists, for instance—not here +in New Haven, of course, but over in New York, say, or perhaps in +Washington? Think it over. The Drawer has always taken the lead in great +moral and social improvements. I leave it to you."</p> + +<p>Here, as in all Southern California, you will never know anything of the +real town unless you have a friend who can take you to unfrequented +cross-country drives up winding paths to mesas, or upland pasture +guarded by lock and key from the average tourist, and get views +indescribably fine.</p> + +<p>I am ashamed of my fellow-travellers who pick oranges by the score, and +even break off boughs from the choicest and most conspicuous trees, and +rush uninvited pell-mell into private grounds and quiet homes of +well-bred people to see and exclaim and criticise. Add to this nuisance +the fact that hundreds of invalids come yearly to the most desirable +localities, turning them into camping-grounds for bacilli. I wonder at +the singular forbearance and courtesy of the residents.</p> + +<p>Occasionally some one invited to speechify or air his opinion of things +in general here bluntly expresses his surprise at finding everywhere so +much culture, wealth, and refinement. This is a queer reflection on the +fact that this part of the State is filled with specimens of our finest +families from the East. I will frankly admit that I must be at my very +best to keep up with those I have been privileged to meet here.</p> + +<p>You must not forget when in Santa Barbara to visit the fine public +library, the best adapted for the convenience of actual workers of any I +have entered. You must not fail to drive to Montecito ("little forest"), +to Carpenteria and Goleta.</p> + +<p>I also advise you to spend a morning in Mr. Ford's studio, and an +afternoon with Mr. Starke and his treasures in wood-carving and +inlaying, brought yearly from the Yosemite, wrought out with his own +hands. He uses nearly fifty varieties of trees in his woodwork, and few +see his stock and go away without investing in a redwood cane, a +paper-knife, or an inlaid table. His orders come from all parts of the +world, and are often very large, mounting up to hundreds of dollars. He +is a simple-hearted student of nature, and a thorough workman. I enjoyed +a brief visit to Chinatown and Spanishtown close by, where I saw a woman +scrubbing clothes on a long flat board, with a piece of soap in each +hand, standing in a hut made of poles covered with brush, and noticed an +old oven outdoors and the meat hung up in strips to dry. I enjoyed also +a call on the old fellow who "catcha de fisha."</p> + +<p>And now, looking back as we are whirled away, I find I am repeating +those lines from Shelley which so exactly reproduce the picture:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i8">"The earth and ocean seem<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To sleep in one another's arms and dream<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of waves, flowers, clouds, woods, rocks, and all that we<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Read in their smiles, and call reality."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + +<h3>AU REVOIR.</h3> + +<p>Just as a woman is leaving her friends she ever has the most to chatter +about. How can I say <i>au revoir</i> briefly when there is so much more to +tell? I so earnestly want to give California <i>en verdad</i>, or in truth. +There has been too much bragging from the settlers, as in 1887 the Los +Angeles <i>Herald</i> said that "New York would soon be excelled by that +city." There is a general desire to surpass all the rest of the world in +as many ways as possible, and a general belief that it can easily be +done. And visitors have omitted all that was unpleasant, and exaggerated +the good points, so that one Californian speaks "of the dancing +dervishes of travel, singing insanely from the moment they come to us."</p> + +<p>There is so much that is novel in this wonderland that it is hard to +keep cool and look at all sides. In 1870 all vegetables and grain were +imported. Mr. Webster declared long ago in Congress that California was +absolutely worthless except for mining and grazing. The rancheros +thought the land only fit for sheep to roam over. Now great train-loads +of vegetables and grain leave daily for the East; all the earliest fruit +of New York, Boston, and Chicago comes from this State, and ships are +carrying all these products to all parts of the world. From north to +south the State measures over 800 miles—as far as from New York to +Florida—with an area of 189,000 square miles—as much as New England +and the Middle States combined, throwing in Maryland. The northern and +southern portions are as unlike as Massachusetts and Florida, and the +State must soon be divided. How little is known of Northern California! +Next year I hope to describe that, with its lofty mountains, wonderful +scenery, lakes of rare beauty, immense interests in grain, fruits, and +mining. This little bit along the coast is but a minute portion of the +whole. I have only followed in the footsteps of the Fathers, and would +like to take you to Monterey, where Junipero Serra founded his last +mission. Mrs. Stanford has placed a statue of the dear old saint on the +shore to honor his life-work. Realizing the size of the State and its +capabilities, big stories seem inevitable. As Talleyrand said of Spain, +"It is a country in which two and two make five."</p> + +<p>Some statements need to be modified. It is declared over and over that +here there are no thunderstorms. In the <i>Examiner</i> of May 19th I read: +"Santa Rosa was visited by a very severe electrical storm about eleven +o'clock last night. The sky was brilliantly illuminated by lightning, +and peal after peal of heavy thunder was heard. This was followed by a +rain which continued until near morning." A church steeple was struck by +lightning and destroyed. This is unusual, but for "never" read "hardly +ever." No mad dogs, yet a little terrier I bought in San Francisco to +give to a friend had to be shot its first summer on account of rabies. +Let us balance matters:</p> + +<table border="0" cellspacing="0"> +<tr><td>No malaria,</td><td> but </td><td>rheumatism.</td></tr> +<tr><td>No cyclones,</td><td> " </td><td>wind and sand storms.</td></tr> +<tr><td>No thunderstorms,</td><td> " </td><td>earthquakes.</td></tr> +<tr><td>No mad dogs,</td><td> " </td><td>rattlesnakes and centipedes, tarantulas and scorpions.</td></tr> +<tr><td>No sunstrokes,</td><td> " </td><td>chilling fogs.</td></tr> +</table> + +<p>All goes when the sun goes. The climate is "outdoors." A sunny room is +essential. The difference between noonday and midnight, temperature +between sun and shade, is something to be learned and guarded against.</p> + +<p>Each place is recommended by doctors who have regained their own health +as <i>the</i> place for invalids. What Dr. Edwards says of San Diego is +repeated everywhere else by experts:</p> + +<p>"San Diego presents the most even climate, the largest proportion of +fair, clear days, a sandy and absorbent soil, and the minimum amount of +atmospheric moisture—all the factors requisite in a perfect climate."</p> + +<p>In each "<i>peripheral resistances are reduced to a minimum</i>." Dr. +Radebaugh, of Pasadena, who, I believe, has not the normal amount of +lung but has been restored to health by the air of Pasadena, where he +has a large practice, assures me that, in his candid opinion, "Pasadena +is the greatest all-the-year-round health-resort in the world." Dr. +Isham, of same place, goes into details, and is almost the only +physician I have consulted who acknowledges drawbacks in the Pasadena +climate for those who desire a cure for throat or lungs. "This climate, +like all else here, is paradoxical and contradictory," and he mentions +that the winds blowing from the Pacific are not usually the +rain-bearers, but those blowing from a point directly opposite, and that +the arid desert. Among objectionable features he mentions the "marked +changes of temperature daily, frequent fogs, excess of humidity in +winter owing to protracted rains (thirty inches in five months, from +November, 1892, to March of this year); hot, dry winds that prevail in +summer, with wind and sand storms, which have a debilitating effect on +nervous systems, and are irritating to the mucous membrane."</p> + +<p>How refreshing to find one person who does not consider his own refuge +from disease an ideal health-resort! He also owns that doctors do not +know yet how to treat such troubles as bronchitis, as is proven by their +experimenting upon patients in Minnesota, Colorado, Arizona, Florida, +and Pasadena. And he closes his letter in this way:</p> + +<p>"When local jealousies have subsided, and contending climates have had +their day, the thing of cardinal importance for an invalid such as you +have mentioned to do when about to change his or her home will be, not +to attach too much importance to this or that particular climatic +condition as determined by the barometer, thermometer, hygrometer, +anemometer, and other meteorological instruments, nor to lay too much +stress on a difference of a few hundred or thousand feet of elevation +above the sea; but choose a home where the environments will afford the +invalid or valetudinarian the greatest opportunity of living +out-of-doors, and of spending the hours of sunshine in riding, driving, +walking, and in other ways, whereby the entrance of pure air into the +lungs is facilitated. In Pasadena the days in winter are warm enough to +make outdoor life attractive and healthful, while the number of sunny +days throughout the year is above the average of that prevailing in many +other deservedly popular health-resorts."</p> + +<p>I will also quote a letter received from Dr. W. B. Berry, formerly of +Montclair, N. J., who, coming to Southern California an almost hopeless +invalid, is now fairly well, and will probably entirely regain his +health. He also is careful and conservative in statement, and therefore +commands serious attention:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p style="text-align: right;"> +"<span class="smcap">Riverside</span>, Cal., May 2, 1893. +</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Miss Sanborn</span>: To recommend any place to an invalid is to an +experienced climate-hunter no doubt, at times, a duty,—certainly it is +a duty from which he shrinks.</p> + +<p>"One does not see so many advanced cases of pulmonary disease here as at +either Asheville or Colorado Springs. The thousands of miles of alkali, +sage-brush, and desolation might explain that, but it does seem to me +that a much larger proportion of consumptives are 'doing well' in this +country than in those.</p> + +<p>"<i>Pure dry air</i>, <i>pure water</i>, and <i>clean dry soil</i> are the climatic +elements essential for the pulmonary invalid, and for most others. These +conditions can be found at Riverside and its vicinity during a large +proportion of the year.</p> + +<p>"Here, too, are cool walks, with sunshine or shade, as may be desired, +and things on every side to interest. For, unfortunately, the man with a +sore chest has a brain and a spinal cord to be stimulated and fed, not +to speak of those little heartstrings undiscovered by the anatomist, and +which yet tug and pull mightily in a far country.</p> + +<p>"In short, it would seem that any consumptive in an early stage of his +disease who does not thrive at a moderate altitude would do well to come +here and to stay—that is, if he will remember that all the climate is +out-of-doors."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>My own troublesome throat is almost as good as new, and I am proud to +name my physician, <i>Outdoors, M.D.</i> Come and consult the same unfailing +restorer.</p> + +<p>I have given, according to my humble ability, <i>la verdad cierta</i>—the +absolute truth—about the small fraction of the State known as Southern +California.</p> + +<p>I came with gargle and note-book, but long ago gave up the former; and +as for these jottings, I offer them to those who want to see this +much-talked-of Earthly Paradise as in a verbal mirror. And to all a +cordial <i>au revoir</i>!</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Adieu to thee again!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A vain adieu!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There can be no farewell to scene like thine:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The mind is colored by thy every hue."<br /></span> +</div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="KATE_SANBORNS_BOOKS" id="KATE_SANBORNS_BOOKS"></a>KATE SANBORN'S BOOKS.</h3> + +<h3 style="text-align: left;">Adopting an Abandoned Farm.</h3> + +<p>16mo. Boards, 50 cents.</p> + +<p>"'Adopting an Abandoned Farm' has as much laugh to the square inch as +any book we have read this many a day."—<i>Boston Herald</i>.</p> + +<p>"If any one wants an hour's entertainment for a warm sunny day on the +piazza, or cold wet day by a log fire, this is the book that will +furnish it."—<i>New York Observer</i>.</p> + + +<h3 style="text-align: left;">A Truthful Woman in Southern California.</h3> + +<p>12mo. Cloth, 75 cents.</p> + +<p>"Miss Sanborn is certainly a very bright writer, and when a book bears +her name it is safe to buy it and put it aside for delectation when a +leisure hour comes along. This bit of a volume is enticing in every +page, and the weather seemed not to be so intolerably hot while we were +reading it."—<i>New York Herald</i>.</p> + +<p style="text-align: center;">D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p>"EVERY AMERICAN SHOULD READ IT."—<i>The News, Providence</i>.</p> + +<h3 style="text-align: left;">The Life and Times of Thomas Jefferson.</h3> + +<p>By <span class="smcap">Thomas E. Watson</span>, Author of "The Story of France," "Napoleon," etc. +Illustrated with many Portraits and Views. 8vo. Attractively bound, +$2.50 net; postage, 17 cents additional.</p> + +<p class="review">Mr. Watson long since acquired a national reputation in connection with +his political activities in Georgia. He startled the public soon +afterward by the publication of a history of France, which at once +attracted attention quite as marked, though different in kind. His book +became interesting not alone as the production of a Southern man +interested in politics, but as an entirely original conception of a +great theme. There was no question that a life of Jefferson from the +hands of such a writer would command very general attention, and the +publishers had no sooner announced the work as in preparation than +negotiations were begun with the author by two of the best-known +newspapers in America for its publication in serial form. During the +past summer the appearance of the story in this way has created +widespread comment which has now been drawn to the book just published.</p> + +<p style="font-size: smaller; text-align: center;"><i>Opinions by some of the Leading Papers.</i></p> + +<p class="review">"A vastly entertaining polemic. It directs attention to many undoubtedly +neglected facts which writers of the North have ignored or +minimized."—<i>The New York Times Saturday Review of Books</i>.</p> + +<p class="review">"A noble work. It may well stand on the shelf beside Morley's +'Gladstone' and other epochal biographical works that have come into +prominence. It is deeply interesting and thoroughly fair and +just."—<i>The Globe-Democrat, St. Louis</i>.</p> + +<p class="review">"The book shows great research and is as complete as it could possibly +be, and every American should read it."—<i>The News, Providence</i>.</p> + +<p class="review">"A unique historical work."—<i>The Commercial Advertiser, New York</i>.</p> + +<p class="review">"Valuable as an historical document and as a witness to certain great +facts in the past life of the South which have seldom been acknowledged +by historians."—<i>The Post, Louisville</i>.</p> + +<p style="text-align: center;">D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4>By JOHN BACH McMASTER, Ph.D.</h4> + +<h3 style="text-align: left;">History of the People of the United States,</h3> + +<p><i>From the Revolution to the Civil War</i>. By <span class="smcap">John Bach McMaster</span>. To be +completed in six volumes. Vols. I, II, III, IV, and V now ready. 8vo. +Cloth, gilt top, $2.50 each.</p> + +<p class="review">"A history <i>sui generis</i> which has made and will keep its own place in +our literature."—<i>New York Evening Post</i>.</p> + +<p class="review">"Those who can read between the lines may discover in these pages +constant evidences of care and skill and faithful labor, of which the +old-time superficial essayists, compiling library notes on dates and +striking events, had no conception."—<i>Philadelphia Telegraph</i>.</p> + +<p class="review">"Professor McMaster has told us what no other historians have told.... +The skill, the animation, the brightness, the force, and the charm with +which he arrays the facts before us are such that we can hardly conceive +of more interesting reading for an American citizen who cares to know +the nature of those causes which have made not only him but his +environment and the opportunities life has given him what they +are."—<i>New York Times</i>.</p> + + +<h3 style="text-align: left;">With the Fathers.</h3> + +<p><i>Studies in the History of the United States</i>. 8vo. Cloth, $1.50.</p> + +<p class="review">"Professor McMaster's essays possess in their diversity a breadth which +covers most of the topics which are current as well as historical, and +each is so scholarly in treatment and profound in judgment that the +importance of their place in the library of political history can not be +gainsaid."—<i>Washington Times</i>.</p> + +<p class="review">"The book is of great practical value, as many of the essays throw a +broad light over living questions of the day. Professor McMaster has a +clear, simple style that is delightful. His facts are gathered with +great care, and admirably interwoven to impress the subject under +discussion upon the mind of the reader."—<i>Chicago Inter-Ocean</i>.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4>STANDARD HISTORICAL WORKS.</h4> + +<h3 style="text-align: left;">History of the People of the United States,</h3> + +<p><i>From the Revolution to the Civil War</i>. By <span class="smcap">John Bach McMaster</span>. To be +completed in six volumes. Vols. I, II, III, IV, and V now ready. 8vo. +Cloth, gilt top, $2.50 each.</p> + +<h3 style="text-align: left;">The Beginners of a Nation.</h3> + +<p>By <span class="smcap">Edward Eggleston</span>. A History of the Source and Rise of the Earliest +English Settlements in America, with Special Reference to the Life and +Character of the People. The first volume in a History of Life in the +United States. Small 8vo. Gilt top, uncut, with Maps. Cloth, $1.50.</p> + +<h3 style="text-align: left;">The Transit of Civilization,</h3> + +<p>From England to America in the Seventeenth Century. By <span class="smcap">Edward Eggleston</span>. +Uniform with "The Beginners of a Nation." Small 8vo. Gilt top, uncut. +Cloth, $1.50.</p> + +<h3 style="text-align: left;">The Household History of the United States and its People.</h3> + +<p>By <span class="smcap">Edward Eggleston</span>. For Young Americans. Richly illustrated with 350 +Drawings, 75 Maps, etc. Square 8vo. Cloth, $2.50.</p> + +<h3 style="text-align: left;">Bancroft's History of the United States,</h3> + +<p>From the Discovery of the Continent to the Establishment of the +Constitution in 1789. (Also <i>Edition de Luxe</i>, on large paper, limited +to one hundred sets, numbered.) Complete in six volumes, with a Portrait +of the Author. 8vo. Cloth, uncut, gilt top, $15.00; half calf or half +morocco, $27.00; tree calf, $50.00.</p> + +<p style="text-align: center;">D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p style="text-align: center;">HISTORIC LIVES SERIES.</p> + +<p>A series of popular biographies dealing with famous men of all times and +countries, written in brief form and representing the latest knowledge +on the subjects, each illustrated with appropriate full-page pictures, +the authors being chosen for their special knowledge of the subjects.</p> + +<p style="text-align: center;"><b>Each 12mo, Illustrated, Cloth, $1.00 net.</b></p> + +<p style="text-align: center; font-size: smaller;"><b>Postage, 10 cents additional.</b></p> + +<p style="text-align: center;"><i>NOW READY</i>.</p> + +<h3 style="text-align: left;">Father Marquette, the Explorer of the Mississippi.</h3> + +<p>By <span class="smcap">Reuben Gold Thwaites</span>, Editor of "The Jesuit Relations," etc.</p> + +<h3 style="text-align: left;">Daniel Boone.</h3> + +<p>By <span class="smcap">Reuben Gold Thwaites</span>, Editor of "The Jesuit Relations," "Father +Marquette," etc.</p> + +<h3 style="text-align: left;">Horace Greeley.</h3> + +<p>By <span class="smcap">William A. Linn</span>, Author of "The Story of the Mormons."</p> + +<h3 style="text-align: left;">Sir William Johnson.</h3> + +<p>By <span class="smcap">Augustus C. Buell</span>, Author of "Paul Jones, Founder of the American +Navy."</p> + +<h3 style="text-align: left;">Anthony Wayne.</h3> + +<p>By <span class="smcap">John R. Spears</span>.</p> + +<h3 style="text-align: left;">Champlain: The Founder of New France.</h3> + +<p>By <span class="smcap">Edwin Asa Dix, M.A., LL.D.</span>, Formerly Fellow in History in Princeton +University; Author of "Deacon Bradbury," "A Midsummer Drive through the +Pyrenees," etc.</p> + +<h3 style="text-align: left;">James Oglethorpe: The Founder of Georgia.</h3> + +<p>By <span class="smcap">Harriet C. Cooper</span>.</p> + +<p style="text-align: center;">D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p style="text-align: center;">A NEW VOLUME IN<br /><span style="font-size: large;">APPLETONS' HISTORIC LIVES SERIES.</span></p> + +<h3 style="text-align: left;">Horace Greeley.</h3> + +<p>By <span class="smcap">William A. Linn</span>, Author of "The Story of the Mormons"; formerly +Managing Editor of the <i>New York Evening Post</i>. Illustrated. 12 mo. +Cloth, $1.00 net; postage, 10 cents additional.</p> + +<p class="review">It is remarkable that so little has been written about Greeley since he +died; in fact, since Parton's book appeared, just before the civil war, +no one has undertaken a comprehensive life of Greeley. Greeley's own +autobiography, which he called "Recollections of a Busy Life," has been +the only later work of note to which readers could go, and that book has +not been in general circulation for a great many years. Mr. Linn's +volume, therefore, should have a large public waiting to receive it. The +character of Horace Greeley is studied by Mr. Linn in his editorial +work. He traces his opinions as set forth in his editorial writings. In +this way he shows how he "grew up" to his earnest advocacy of a +protective tariff; how he became the most powerful opponent of the +extension of the slave power, after looking on the subject almost with +indifference in his earlier years; his curious inconsistencies during +the civil war, when he was a source of constant interference with the +Administration at Washington; and the circumstances that led to his +selection as the Liberal candidate for President in 1872.</p> + +<p class="review">"Every lover of America's great men should possess this life of +Greeley."—<i>Raleigh Observer</i>.</p> + +<p class="review">"The best biography of Greeley yet written."—<i>The Literary World</i>.</p> + +<p class="review">"Mr. Linn has not attempted an elaborate life of Greeley, but only an +extended, a just and thoroughly appreciative essay. Eminent success has +crowned the effort. The general public, as well as the more fastidious +student, will find genuine pleasure and real benefit in perusing this +little volume."—<i>Prof. William F. Dodd, New York Times Review</i>.</p> + +<p style="text-align: center;">D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p style="text-align: center;">REMINISCENCES OF A SCIENTIST.</p> + +<h3 style="text-align: left;">The Autobiography of Joseph Le Conte.</h3> + +<p>With portrait. 12mo. Cloth, $1.25 net.</p> + +<p>Professor Le Conte was widely known as a man of science, and notably as +a geologist. His later years were spent at the University of California. +But his early life was passed in the South; there he was born and spent +his youth; there he was living when the civil war brought ruin to his +home and his inherited estate. His reminiscences deal with phases of +life in the South that have unfailing interest to all students of +American history. His account of the war as he saw it has permanent +value. He was in Georgia when Sherman marched across it. Professor Le +Conte knew Agassiz, and writes charmingly of his associations with him.</p> + +<p class="review">"Attractive because of its unaffected simplicity and +directness."—<i>Chicago Chronicle</i>.</p> + +<p class="review">"Attractive by virtue of its frank simplicity."—<i>New York Evening +Post</i>.</p> + +<p class="review">"Well worth reading even if the reader be not particularly interested in +geology."—<i>New York American</i>.</p> + +<p class="review">"This story of a beautiful, untiring life is worthy of consideration by +every lover of truth."—<i>St. Paul Despatch</i>.</p> + +<p style="text-align: center;">D. APPLETON AND COMPANY,<br /> +NEW YORK. BOSTON. CHICAGO. LONDON.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p style="text-align: center">THE AUTHENTIC LIFE OF LINCOLN.</p> + +<h3 style="text-align: left;">Abraham Lincoln: The True Story of a Great Life.</h3> + +<p>By <span class="smcap">William H. Herndon</span> and <span class="smcap">Jesse W. Weik</span>. With numerous Illustrations. +New and revised edition, with an Introduction by Horace White. In two +volumes, 12mo. Cloth, $3.00.</p> + +<p class="review">"It will always remain the authentic life of Abraham Lincoln."—<i>Chicago +Herald</i>.</p> + +<p class="review">"A remarkable piece of literary achievement—remarkable alike for its +fidelity to facts, its fulness of details, its constructive skill, and +its literary charm."—<i>New York Times</i>.</p> + +<p class="review">"The three portraits of Lincoln are the best that exist; and not the +least characteristic of these, the Lincoln of the Douglas debates, has +never before been engraved.... Herndon's narrative gives, as nothing +else is likely to give, the material from which we may form a true +picture of the man from infancy to maturity."—<i>The Nation</i>.</p> + +<p class="review">"Truly, they who wish to know Lincoln as he really was must read the +biography by his friend and law-partner, W. H. Herndon. This book was +imperatively needed to brush aside the rank growth of myth and legend +which was threatening to hide the real lineaments of Lincoln from the +eyes of posterity.... There is no doubt about the faithfulness of Mr. +Herndon's delineation. The marks of unflinching veracity are patent in +every line."—<i>New York Sun</i>.</p> + +<h3 style="text-align: left;">Lincoln in Story.</h3> + +<p><i>The Life of the Martyr President told in Authenticated Anecdotes</i>. +Edited by <span class="smcap">Silas G. Pratt</span>. Illustrated, 12mo, Cloth, 75 cents net; +postage, 9 cents additional.</p> + +<p class="review">"A valuable and exceedingly interesting addition to Lincoln +literature."—<i>Brooklyn Standard-Union</i>.</p> + +<p class="review">"An excellent compilation on a subject of which the American people +never grow tired."—<i>Boston Transcript</i>.</p> + +<p style="text-align: center;">D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p style="text-align: center;"><i>A PICTORIAL HISTORY OF THE WAR WITH SPAIN</i>.</p> + +<h3 style="text-align: left;">Cannon and Camera.</h3> + +<p>Sea and Land Battles of the Spanish-American War in Cuba, Camp Life, and +the Return of the Soldiers. Described and illustrated by <span class="smcap">J. C. Hemment</span>. +With over one hundred full-page pictures taken by the Author, and an +Index. Large 12mo. Cloth, $2.00.</p> + +<p class="review">"Accurate as well as picturesque.... Mr. Hemment has done his work well. +In point of faithful realism there has thus far been nothing better in +the whole war literature."—<i>Boston Journal</i>.</p> + +<p class="review">"Clever and picturesque.... Over one hundred capital instantaneous +photographs illustrate Mr. Hemment's well-written record, and not the +least of the book's recommendations is the outspoken simplicity of its +style, and the strong impression it makes upon the reader of being the +uninfluenced evidence of an eyewitness who 'draws the thing as he sees +it' and without exaggeration or prejudice."—<i>Sunday School Times</i>.</p> + +<h3 style="text-align: left;">Recollections of the Civil War.</h3> + +<p>By CHARLES A. DANA. With Portrait. Large 12mo. Cloth, gilt top, uncut, +$2.00.</p> + +<p class="review">"The book will rank among the trustworthy sources of knowledge of the +civil war."—<i>New York Evening Post</i>.</p> + +<p class="review">"Mr. Dana's official position as Assistant Secretary of War while the +rebellion was in progress gave him exceptional opportunities of +observation which he was keen to take advantage of, while his rare gift +of terse and vivid expression enabled him to record what he saw in a +series of pen pictures that are little less than instantaneous +photographs. The feature <i>par excellence</i> of these reminiscences is +their interesting character.... He tells you briefly but graphically +what he saw, heard, or did himself. One gains a very real and personal +knowledge of the war from these recollections."—<i>Chicago Times-Herald</i>.</p> + +<p style="text-align: center;">D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>[Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors have been +corrected.</p> + +<p>In Chapter II, "irridescent" has been changed to "iridescent", and +"witten" has been changed to "written".]</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Truthful Woman in Southern California, by +Kate Sanborn + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A TRUTHFUL WOMAN *** + +***** This file should be named 19391-h.htm or 19391-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/3/9/19391/ + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Truthful Woman in Southern California + +Author: Kate Sanborn + +Release Date: September 27, 2006 [EBook #19391] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A TRUTHFUL WOMAN *** + + + + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + + + + + +A TRUTHFUL WOMAN IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA + +BY KATE SANBORN + +AUTHOR OF ADOPTING AN ABANDONED FARM, ETC. + +NEW YORK +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY +1906 + +COPYRIGHT, 1893, +BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. + + + + +CONTENTS. + +CHAPTER PAGE + + I.--HINTS FOR THE JOURNEY + II.--AT CORONADO BEACH + III.--SAN DIEGO + IV.--EN ROUTE TO LOS ANGELES + V.--LOS ANGELES AND ROUND ABOUT + VI.--PASADENA + VII.--CAMPING ON MOUNT WILSON +VIII.--CATCHING UP ON THE KITE-SHAPED TRACK + IX.--RIVERSIDE + X.--A LESSON ON THE TRAIN + XI.--SANTA BARBARA + XII.--HER CITY AND COUNTY +XIII.--IN GALA DRESS + XIV.--AU REVOIR + + + + +A Truthful Woman in Southern California + +CHAPTER I. + +HINTS FOR THE JOURNEY. + + + The typical Forty-niner, in alluring dreams, grips the Golden + Fleece. + + The _fin-de-siecle_ Argonaut, in Pullman train, flees the Cold and + Grip. + + _En Sol y la Sombra_--shade as well as sun. + +Yes, as California is. I resolve neither to soar into romance nor drop +into poetry (as even Chicago drummers do here), nor to idealize nor +quote too many prodigious stories, but to write such a book as I needed +to read before leaving my "Abandoned Farm," "Gooseville," Mass. For I +have discovered that many other travellers are as ignorant as myself +regarding practical information about every-day life here, and many +others at home may know even less. + +So let me say that California has not a tropical, but a semi-tropical +climate, and you need the same clothing for almost every month that is +found necessary and comfortable in New York or Chicago during the +winter. + +Bring fur capes, heavy wraps, simple woolen dresses for morning and +outdoor life; and unless rolling in wealth, pack as little as possible +of everything else, for extra baggage is a curse and will deplete a +heavy purse,--that rhymes and has reason too. I know of one man who paid +$300 for extra baggage for his party of fifteen from Boston to Los +Angeles. + +Last year I brought dresses and underwear for every season, and for a +vague unknown fifth; also my lectures, causing profanity all along the +line, and costing enough to provide drawing-room accommodations for the +entire trip. + +Why did I come? Laryngitis, bronchitis, tonsilitis, had claimed me as +their own. Grip (I will not honor it with a foreign spelling, now it is +so thoroughly acclimated and in every home) had clutched me twice--nay, +thrice; doctors shook their heads, thumped my lungs, sprayed my throat, +douched my nose, dosed me with cough anodynes and nerve tonics, and +pronounced another winter in the North a dangerous experiment. Some of +you know about this from personal experience. Not a human being could I +induce to join me. If this hits your case, do not be deterred; just come +and be made over into a joyous, healthful life. I would not urge those +to take the tedious journey who are hopelessly consumptive. Home is the +best place for such, and although I see many dragging wearily along with +one lung, or even half of that, who settle here and get married and +prolong existence for a few years, and although some marvellous cures +have been effected, still I say the same. + +And what is to be put in the one big trunk? Plenty of flannels of medium +thickness, a few pretty evening dresses, two blouses, silk and woolen or +velvet for morning wear, with simple skirts, a gossamer, rubbers, thick +boots for long tramps and excursions, parasol, umbrella, soft hat to +shade the face, and gloves for all sorts of occasions. I do not venture +to suggest anything for men, they travel so sensibly. The more +experienced one is, the less he carries with him. + +So do not load up with portfolio and portable inkstand, your favorite +stationery, the books that delighted your childhood or exerted a +formative influence upon your character in youth. Deny yourself and +leave at home the gold or silver toilet set, photograph album, family +Bibles, heavy fancy work, gilded horseshoe for luck, etc. I know of +bright people who actually carried their favorite matches from an +eastern city to Tacoma, also a big box of crackers, cheese, pickles, and +preserved fruits, only to find the best of everything in that brilliant +and up-with-the-times city. One old lady brought a calla-lily in a pot! +When she arrived and saw hedges and fields of lilies, hers went out of +the window. Another lady from Boston brought a quart bottle of the +blackest ink, only to spill it all upon a new carpet at Santa Barbara, +costing the boarding-house keeper thirty-five dollars. Everything that +one needs can be purchased all along the way, from a quinine capsule to +a complete outfit for any occasion. + +As to the various ways of coming here, I greatly prefer the Southern +Pacific in winter, and Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe in spring or summer. +Either will take you from New York to San Diego and return for $137, +allowing six months' stay. The "Phillips Excursion" will take you from +Boston to San Francisco for fifty-five dollars. But in this case the +beds are hard, and you provide your own meals. Some try the long voyage, +twenty-three days from New York to San Francisco. It is considered +monotonous and undesirable by some; others, equally good judges, prefer +it decidedly. + +I believe in taking along a loose wrapper to wear in the cars, +especially when crossing the desert. It greatly lessens fatigue to be +able to curl up cosily in a corner and go to sleep, with a silk +travelling hat or a long veil on one's head, and the stiff bonnet or +big hat with showy plumes nicely covered in its long purse-like bag, and +hanging on a hook above. The sand and alkali ruin everything, and are +apt to inflame the eyes and nose. I find a hamper with strap +indispensable on the train; it will hold as much as a small trunk, yet +it can be easily carried. + +Now imagine you have arrived, very tired, and probably with a cold in +your head, for the close heated cars and the sudden changes of climate +are trying. You may be at The Raymond, and "personally conducted." +Nothing can be better than that. But if you are alone at Los Angeles, or +San Francisco, come straight down to Coronado Beach, and begin at the +beginning--or the end, as you may think it. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +AT CORONADO BEACH. + + +I associate Coronado Beach so closely with Warner (Charles D.), the +cultured and cosmopolitan, that every wave seems to murmur his name, and +the immense hotel lives and flourishes under the magic of his rhetoric +and commendation. Just as Philadelphia is to me Wanamakerville and +Terrapin, so Coronado Beach is permeated and lastingly magnetized by +Warner's sojourn here and what he "was saying." + +But I must venture to find fault with his million-times-quoted adjective +"unique" as it is used. It has been stamped on stationery and menu +cards, and has gone the world over in his volume "Our Italy," and no one +ever visits this spot who has not made the phrase his own. To me it +deserves a stronger word, or series of words. We say a pretty girl has a +"unique" way of dressing her hair, or an author a "unique" way of +putting things. + +But as I look out of my window this glorious morning, and watch the +triple line of foaming waves breaking on the long beach, a silver sickle +in the sunshine; the broad expanse of the Pacific, with distant sails +looking like butterflies apoise; Point Loma grandly guarding the right, +and farther back the mountain view, where snowy peaks can just be +discerned over the nearer ranges; the quiet beauty of the grounds below, +where borders and ovals and beds of marguerites contrast prettily with +long lines and curves of the brilliant marigolds; grass, trees, and +hedges green as June--a view which embraces the palm and the pine, the +ocean and lofty mountains, cultivated gardens and rocky wastes, as I see +all this, I for one moment forget "unique" and exclaim, "How bold, +magnificent, and unrivalled!" Give me a new and fitting adjective to +describe what I see. Our best descriptive adjectives are so recklessly +used in daily life over minute matters, that absolutely nothing is left +for this rare combination. + +As a daughter of New Hampshire in this farthest corner of the southwest, +my mind crosses the continent to the remote northeast and the great +Stone Face of the Franconia Mountains. Chiselled by an Almighty hand, +its rugged brow seamed by the centuries, its features scarred by the +storms of ages, gazing out over the broad land, where centre the hopes +of the human race, who can forget that face, sad with the mysteries of +pain and sorrow, yet inspiring with its rugged determination, and at +times softened with the touch of sunlit hope? + +Point Loma has something of the same sphinx-like grandeur, with its long +bold promontory stretching out into the western waters. These two seem +to be keeping watch and ward over mountain and sea: each appropriate in +its place and equally impressive. There the stern prophet surveying the +home of great beginnings, the cradle of creative energy; and here, its +counterpart, a mighty recumbent lion, its dreamy, peaceful gaze turned +with confidence out over the wide Pacific to the setting sun, with +assurance of ultimate success, a pledge of aspirations satisfied, of +achievements assured, of----Whoa there! Hello! This to my runaway +steeds, Imagination and Sentiment. Brought back by a passing bell-boy, I +shall now keep a tighter rein. + +But when one first breathes the air of California, there is a curious +exaltation and excitement, which leads on irresistibly. This is often +followed by a natural depression, sleepiness, and reaction. But that +view never changes, and I know you will say the same. A florid, +effervescent, rhapsodical style seems irresistible. One man of uncommon +business ability and particularly level head caught the spirit of the +place, and wrote that "the most practical and unpoetical minds, too, +come here and go away, as they afterward gingerly admit, carrying with +them the memory of sunsets emblazoned in gold and crimson upon cloud, +sea, and mountain; of violet promontories, sails, and lighthouses +etched against the orange of a western sky; of moonlight silvering +breeze-rippled breadths of liquid blue; of distant islands shimmering in +sun-lit haze; of sunrises with crowns of glory chasing the vapory, +fleece-like shadows from the wet, irridescent beach, and silhouetting +the fishermen's sails in the opalescent tints of a glassy sea." + +Some temperaments may not be affected at all. But the first morning I +felt like leaping a five-barred fence, and the next like lying down +anywhere and sleeping indefinitely. I met a distinguished Boston artist +recently, who had just arrived. The day was superb. He seemed in a +semi-delirium of ecstasy over everything. His face glowed, his eyes +shone, his hands were full of flowers. He said, "My heart jumps so I'm +really afraid it will jump out of my body." The next morning he was +wholly subdued. It had poured all night, and the contrast was +depressing. A six-footer from Albany was in the sleepy state. "If I +don't pull out soon," he said, "I shall be bedridden. I want to sleep +after breakfast, or bowling, or bath, or my ride or dinner, and really +long to go to bed by nine." + +There has probably been more fine writing and florid rhetoric about +California than any other State in the Union. + +The Hotel del Coronado is a mammoth hostelry, yet homelike in every +part, built in a rectangle with inner court, adorned with trees, +flowers, vines, and a fountain encircled by callas; color, pure white, +roofs and chimneys red; prevailing woods, oak, ash, pine, and redwood. + +All around the inner court a series of suites of rooms, each with its +own bath and corner sitting-room--literally "a linked suiteness long +drawn out." It is one eighth of a mile from my bedroom to my seat in the +dining-room, so that lazy people are obliged to take daily +constitutionals whether they want to or not, sighing midway for trolley +accommodations. The dining-room may safely be called roomy, as it seats +a thousand guests, and your dearest friends could not be recognized at +the extreme end. Yet there is no dreary stretch or caravansary effect, +and to-day every seat is filled, and a dozen tourists waiting at the +door. + +Every recreation of city or country is found in this little world: +thirty billiard-tables, pool, bowling, tennis, polo, bathing (where +bucking barrel-horses and toboggan slides, fat men who produce tidal +waves, and tiny boys who do the heroic as sliders and divers, make fun +for the spectators), hunting, fishing, yachting, rowing, riding to +hounds, rabbit hunts, pigeon shoot, shooting-galleries, driving, +coaching, cards, theatre, ballroom, lectures, minstrels, exhibitions of +the Mammoth and Minute from Yosemite with the stereopticon, to Pacific +sea-mosses, the ostrich farm, the museum or maze for a morning hour, +dressing or undressing for evening display, watching the collection of +human beings who throng everywhere with a critical or humorous eye, +finding as much variety as on Broadway or Tremont Street; +dancing-classes for children; a chaperon and a master of ceremonies for +grown folks; a walk or drive twelve miles long on a smooth beach at low +tide, not forgetting the "dark room" for kodak and camera f--amateurs. + +You see many athletic, fine-looking men, who ride daringly and ride to +kill. Once a week the centre of the office is filled with game: +rabbits, quail, snipe, ducks, etc., everything here--but an undertaker. +And old Ocean eternally booming (the only permanent boom I know of in +Southern California). + +And that is what you see and hear at the Hotel del Coronado. The summer +climate is better than the winter--never too warm for comfort, the +mercury never moving for weeks. I expected constant sunshine, a +succession of June's fairest days, which would have been monotonous, to +say nothing of the effect upon crops and orchards. The rainy season is +necessary and a blessing to the land-owners, hard as it is for "lungers" +and the nervous invalids who only feel well on fine days and complain +unreasonably. + +Ten inches is the average needed just here. Rain is rainy and wet +weather is wet, but the ground dries as soon as the pelting shower is +over. I do not find the raw, searching dampness of our Eastern seashore +resorts. Here we are said to have "dry fogs" and an ideal marine +atmosphere, but it was too cold for comfort during the March rains for +those not in robust health. + +As I sit in the upper gallery and watch the throng issuing from the +dining-room, I make a nice and unerring social distinction between the +Toothpick Brigade who leave the table with the final mouthful +semi-masticated, and those who have an air of finished contentment. + +The orchestra is unusually good, giving choice selections admirably +executed. I have not decided whether music at meals is a blessing or +otherwise. If sad, it seems a mockery; if gay, an interruption. For one +extremely sensitive to time and tune it is difficult to eat to slow +measures. And when the steak is tough and a galop is going on above, it +is hard to keep up. + +Among the many fleeting impressions of faces and friends here, one or +two stand out clearly and indelibly--stars of the first magnitude in the +nebulae--as dear Grandma Wade from Chicago, the most attractive old lady +I ever met: eighty-three years old, with a firm step, rotund figure, and +sweet, unruffled face, crowned with the softest snow-white curls, on +which rests an artistic cap trimmed with ribbons of blue or delicate +heliotrope, and small artificial flowers to match. I have known several +interesting octogenarians, but never one that surpassed her in +loveliness, wit, and positive jollity. Her spontaneous fun is better +than the labored efforts of many a famous humorist. + +She still has her ardent admirers among men as well as women, and now +and then receives an earnest proposal from some lonely old fellow. + +The last of these aged lovers, when refused and relegated to the +position of a brother, urged her to reconsider this important matter, +making it a subject of prayer. But she quietly said, "I'm not going to +bother the Lord with questions I can answer myself." When choked by a +bread-crumb at table, she said to the frightened waiter, as soon as she +had regained her breath, "Never mind, if that did go down the wrong way, +a great many good things have gone down the right way this winter." + +She is invariably cheerful, and when parting with her son for the winter +she said, "Well, John, I want to know before I go just what you have +left me in your will!" which little joke changed a tear into a smile. + +Even when ill she is still bright and hopeful, so that a friend +exclaimed, "Grandma, I do believe you would laugh if you were dying;" +and she replied, "Well, so many folks go to the Lord with a long face, I +guess He will be glad to see one come in smiling." + +Oh, how repulsive the artificial bloom, the cosmetics and hair-dyes +which make old age a horror, compared with her natural beauty! God bless +and keep dear Grandma Wade! + +Little "Ted" is another character and favorite, and his letter to his +nurse in New York gives a good idea of how the place affects a bright, +impressionable child. + + "My dear Julia: _It is a dummy near the hotel and it takes five + days to come here and there is an island right beyond the boat + house and they have a pigeon shoot every week. And there is six + hundred people here Julia, one hundred and fifty came yesterday._ + + "_There is a mountin across the river and a house very far away by + itself, Julia. I play in the sand every day of my life, and I take + swimming lessons and I have two oranges. California is the biggest + world in the country and there is a tree very, very far away. Julia + it is a puzzle walk near the hotel, Rose and me went all through it + and Julia, we got our way out easy._" + +He has it all. All the trees are cultivated here, so I looked round for +the one Ted spoke of, and find it lights up at night and revolves for +the aid of the mariners. I think that all Californians echo his +sentiment that "California is the biggest world in the country"; and +compared with the hard work of the New England farmers, what is the +cultivation of orchards but playing in the sand with golden oranges? +Some one says that Californians "irrigate, cultivate, and exaggerate." + +Charles Nordhoff, the veteran journalist and author, lives within sight +of the hotel (which he pronounces the most perfect and charming hotel he +knows of in Europe or America), in a rambling bungalow consisting of +three small cottages moved from different points and made into one. He +believes in California for "health, pleasure, and residence." It is a +rare privilege to listen to his conversation, sitting by his open fire +or at his library table, or when he is entertaining friends at dinner. + +So ends my sketch of Coronado. Coronado! What a perfect word! Musical, +euphonious, regal, "the crowned"! The name of the governor of New +Galicia, and captain-general of the Spanish army, sent forth in 1540 in +search of the seven cities of Cibola. General J. H. Simpson, U. S. A., +has written a valuable monograph on "Coronado's March," which can be +found in the Smithsonian Report for 1869. + +I intend to avoid statistics and history on the one side, and +extravagant eulogy on the other. + +Now we will say good-by to our new friends, take one more look at Point +Loma, and cross the ferry to San Diego. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +SAN DIEGO. + + + "The truly magnificent, and--with reason--famous port of San + Diego."--_From the first letter of Father Junipero in Alto + California._ + +Fifteen cents for motor, ferry, and car will take you to Hotel Florence, +on the heights overlooking the bay, where I advise you to stop. The +Horton House is on an open, sunny site, and is frequented by +"transients" and business men of moderate means. The Brewster is a +first-class hotel, with excellent table. The Florence is not a large +boarding-house or family hotel, but open for all. It has a friendly, +homelike atmosphere, without the exactions of an ultra-fashionable +resort. The maximum January temperature is seventy-four degrees, while +that of July is seventy-nine degrees, and invalid guests at this house +wear the same weight clothing in summer that they do in winter. The +rooms of this house are all sunny, and each has a charming ocean or +mountain view. It is easy to get there; hard to go away. Arriving from +Coronado Beach, I was reminded of the Frenchman who married a quiet +little home body after a desperate flirtation with a brilliant society +queen full of tyrannical whims and capricious demands. When this was +commented on as surprising, he explained that after playing with a +squirrel one likes to take a cat in his lap. Really, it is so restful +that the building suggests a big yellow tabby purring sleepily in the +sunshine. I sat on the veranda, or piazza, taking a sun-bath, in a happy +dream or doze, until the condition of nirvana was almost attained. What +day of the week was it? And the season? Who could tell? And who cares? +Certainly no one has the energy to decide it. Last year, going there to +spend one day, I remained for five weeks, hypnotized by my +environments--beguiled, deluded, unconscious of the flight of time, +serenely happy. Many come for a season, and wake up after five or six +years to find it is now their home. "There seems to exist in this +country a something which cheats the senses; whether it be in the air, +the sunshine, or in the ocean breeze, or in all three combined, I cannot +say. Certainly the climate is not the home-made common-sense article of +the anti-Rocky Mountain States; and unreality is thrown round life--all +walk and work in a dream." + +At Coronado Beach one rushes out after breakfast for an all-day +excursion or morning tramp; here one sits and sits, always intending to +go somewhere or do something, until the pile of unanswered letters +accumulates and the projected trips weary one in a dim perspective. It +is all so beautiful, so new, so wonderful! San Diego is the Naples of +America, with the San Jacinto Mountains for a background and the blue +sunlit bay to gaze upon, and one of the finest harbors in the world. Yet +with all this, few have the energy even to go a-fishing. + +Now, as a truthful "tourist," I must admit that in the winter there are +many days when the sun does not shine, and the rainy season is not +altogether cheerful for the invalid and the stranger. Sunshine, glorious +golden sunshine, is what we want all the time; but we do not get it. I +noticed that during the heavy rains the invalids retired to their rooms, +overcome by the chill and dampness, and some were seriously ill. But +then they would have been in their graves if they had remained in the +East. There are many charming people residing in San Diego, well, happy, +useful, who know they can never safely return to their old homes. + +There has been such a rosy glamour thrown over southern California by +enthusiastic romancers that many are disappointed when they fail to find +an absolute Paradise. + +Humboldt said of California: "The sky is constantly serene and of a deep +blue, and without a cloud; and should any clouds appear for a moment at +the setting of the sun, they display the most beautiful shades of +violet, purple, and green."[1] + +[Footnote 1: Humboldt had never been in Alta California, and procured +this information in Mexico or Spain.] + +Now, after reading that, a real rainy day, when the water leaks through +the roof and beats in at the doors, makes a depressed invalid feel like +a drenched fowl standing forlornly on one leg in the midst of a New +England storm. With snow-covered mountains on one side and the ocean +with its heavy fogs on the other, and the tedious rain pouring down with +gloomy persistence, and consumptives coughing violently, and physicians +hurrying in to attend to a sudden hemorrhage or heart-failure, the scene +is not wholly gay and inspiriting. But when the sun comes forth again +and the flowers (that look to me a little tired of blooming all the +time) brighten up with fresh washed faces, and all vegetation rejoices +and you can almost see things grow, and the waves dance and glitter, and +the mountains no longer look cold and threatening but seem like painted +scenery, _a la_ Bierstadt, hung up for our admiration, and the valleys +breathe the spicy fragrance of orange blossoms, we are once more happy, +and ready to rave a little ourselves over the much-talked-of "bay 'n' +climate." But there are dangers even on the sunniest day. I know a +young physician who came this year on a semi-professional tour, to try +the effects of inhalations on tuberculosis, and it was so delightfully +warm that he straightway took off his flannels, was careless about night +air, and was down with pneumonia. + +The tourist or traveller who writes of San Diego usually knows nothing +of it but a week or two in winter or early spring. + +Southern California has fifty-two weeks in the year, and for two thirds +of this time the weather is superb. + +I can imagine even a mission Indian grunting and complaining if taken to +our part of the country in the midst of a week's storm. We flee from +deadly horrors of climate to be fastidiously critical. If, in midsummer, +sweltering sufferers in New York or Chicago could be transported to this +land they would not hurry away. The heat is rarely above eighty-five +degrees, and nearly always mitigated by a refreshing breeze from the +bay. I am assured that there have not been five nights in as many years +when one or more blankets have not been necessary for comfort. In summer +everything is serene. No rain, no thunder-storms, no hail, or +water-spouts. (The dust pest is never spoken of!) The picnic can be +arranged three weeks ahead without an anxious thought about the weather. +The summer sunsets are marvellously beautiful. + +One must summer and winter here before he can judge fairly, and the +hyper-sensitive should tarry in New Mexico or in the desert until +spring. I believe that rheumatic or neuralgic invalids should avoid the +damp resorts to which they are constantly flocking only to be +dissatisfied. Every sort of climate can be found in the State, so that +no one has the right to grumble. + +Do not take off flannels, although the perspiration does trickle down +the side of your face as you sit in the sun. A fur cape is always needed +to protect one shoulder from a chilling breeze while the other side is +toasted. It is not safe for new-comers to be out-of-doors after four or +five o'clock in the afternoon, nor must they ride in open cars except +in the middle of the day. These innocent diversions give the doctors +their support. + +Bill Nye, with his usual good sense, refused to drive in a pouring rain +to view the scenery and orchards when visiting San Diego in March, and +says: "Orange orchards are rare and beautiful sights, but when I can sit +in this warm room, gathered about a big coal fire, and see miles of them +from the window, why should I put on my fur overcoat and a mackintosh in +order to freeze and cry out with assumed delight every half-mile while I +gradually get Pomona of the lungs?" + +There are many places worth visiting if you can rouse yourselves for the +effort. Point Loma, twelve miles distant, gives a wonderful view, one of +the finest in the world. I warrant you will be so famished on arriving +that you will empty every lunch-basket before attending to the outlook. +National City, Sweet Water Dam, Tia Juana (Aunt Jane), La Jolla--you +will hear of all these. I have tried them and will report. + +The Kimball brothers, Warren and Frank, who came from New Hampshire +twenty-five years ago and devoted their energies to planting orchards of +oranges, lemons, and olives, have made the desert bloom, and found the +business most profitable. You will like to watch the processes of +pickling olives and pressing out the clear amber oil, which is now used +by consumptives in preference to the cod-liver oil. Many are rubbed with +it daily for increasing flesh. It is delicious for the table, but the +profits are small, as cotton-seed oil is much cheaper. Lemons pay better +than oranges, Mr. Kimball tells me. Mrs. Flora Kimball has worked side +by side with her husband, who is an enthusiast for the rights of woman. +She is progressive, and ready to help in every good work, with great +executive ability and a hearty appreciation of any good quality in +others. + +It does not pay to take the trip to Mexico if time is limited, there is +so little of Mexico in it. After leaving the train and getting into an +omnibus, the voluble darkey in charge soon shouts out, "We are now +crossing the line," but as no difference of scene is observed, it is not +deeply impressive. One young fellow got out and jumped back and forth +over the line, so that if asked on his return if he had been to Mexico +he could conscientiously answer, "Oh yes, many times." We were then +taken to the custom-house, where we mailed some hastily scribbled +letters for the sake of using a Mexican stamp,--some preferred it +stamped on a handkerchief. And near by is the curio store, where you +find the same things which are seen everywhere, and where you will +doubtless buy a lot of stuff and be sorry for it. But whatever other +folly you may be led into, let me implore you to wholly abstain from +that deadly concoction, the Mexican _tamale_. Ugh! I can taste mine now. + +A _tamale_ is a curious and dubious combination of chicken hash, meal, +olives, red pepper, and I know not what, enclosed in a corn-husk, +steamed until furiously hot, and then offered for sale by Mexicans in +such a sweet, appealing way that few can resist the novelty. It has a +more uncertain pedigree than the sausage, and its effects are serious. + +A friend of mine tasted a small portion of one late at night. It was +later before she could sleep, and then terrible nightmares intruded upon +her slumber. Next morning she looked so ill and enfeebled, so unlike her +rosy self, that we begged to know the cause. The tale was thrilling. She +thought a civil war had broken out and she could not telegraph to her +distant spouse. The agony was intense. She must go to him with her five +children, and at once. They climbed mountains, tumbled into canons, were +arrested in their progress by cataracts and wild storms, and even the +hostile Indian appeared in full war-paint at a point above. This awoke +her, only to fall into another horrible situation. An old lover suddenly +returned, tried to approach her; she screamed, "I am now a married +woman!"--he lifted his revolver, and once again she returned to +consciousness and the _tamale_, and brandy, and Brown's Jamaica ginger. +If she had eaten half the _tamale_ the pistol would doubtless have +completed its deadly work. A kind old gentleman of our party bought a +dozen to treat us all. We were obliged to refuse, and it was amusing to +watch him in his endeavor to get rid of them. At last he made several +journeys to the car door, throwing out a few each trip in a solemn way. +He didn't want to hurt the feelings of the natives by casting them all +out at once. + +Sweet Water Dam is a triumph of engineering, one of the largest dams in +the world, holding six million gallons of water, used for irrigating +ranches in Sweet Water Valley; and at La Jolla you will find pretty +shells and clamber down to the caves. There the stones are slippery, and +an absorbing flirtation should be resisted, as the tide often intrudes +most unexpectedly, and in dangerous haste. Besides the caves the +attractions are the fishing and the kelp beds. These kelp beds form a +submarine garden, and the water is so clear that one can see beautiful +plants, fish, etc., at forty or fifty feet below the sea surface--not +unlike the famous sea-gardens at Nassau in the Bahamas. There is a good +hotel, open the year round. + +Lakeside is a quiet inland retreat twenty-two miles from San Diego, +where many go for a little excursion and change of air. The Lakeside +Hotel has seventy large rooms and complete appointments. The table is +supplied with plenty of milk and _real_ cream from their own cows, +vegetables and fruit from the neighboring ranches, game in its season, +shot on the lake near by, and, in the valleys, meats from homegrown +stock. The guests who are not too invalidish often go out for long +drives, never forgetting the lunch-baskets. One day we try the Alpine +stage. Winding across the mesa at the rear of the hotel, we have a +lovely view of the little lake half hidden in the trees, reflecting in +its quiet surface the mountains that rise up beyond it. Gradually +climbing upward, we come to a tract of land that is watered by the +Flume. To our surprise we learn that this is practically frostless, and +that since this has been discovered many young orchards of oranges and +lemons have been planted. The red mesa land on the side-hills will not +be touched by the frosts of a cold night when the valley at its foot +will have enough frost to kill all tender growth. This is a new +discovery, and has placed thousands of acres on the market as suitable +for the culture of citrus fruits. Do you notice how the appearance of +the landscape is changing? The nearer hills are much sharper and +steeper, and their sides are studded by great boulders. There are stone +walls, and here and there are great flocks of sheep. The horses stop of +their own accord at a lovely spot where they are used to getting a drink +of cool spring water. Did any ever taste quite so good as that drunk +from an old dipper after a long warm drive? The live-oaks and sycamores +look too inviting to be resisted, and we get out to explore while the +horses are resting. Underneath the evergreen shade we pick up some of +the large pointed acorns and carry them away as souvenirs. This would be +a delightful spot for a picnic, but we have many miles before us and +must go on. In a few more miles we reach a little town known as +"Alpine." In the distance looms the Viejas, and if any of the party wish +to travel over a grade, now is the opportunity. The top of the grade +brings us to a lovely view. Eastward is an unbroken chain of +mountain-peaks, from whose summits may be seen the broad Pacific on one +side and the Colorado Desert on the other. + +One of the favorite drives is into the Monte. This is a large park or +tract of a thousand acres. On each side the hills rise, and in front El +Cajon shows new beauties with every step of the way. Great live-oaks +with enormous trunks, ancient sycamores, elders, and willows make in +some spots a dense shade. On the edge of the hillsides the Flume may be +seen, which furnishes many ranches as well as the city of San Diego with +the purest mountain water. Underneath the trees and up on the rocks the +lover of flowers and ferns will scramble. There are the dainty +forget-me-nots, tiny flowers of starry white, flowers of pale orange +with centres of deep maroon, the wild galliardia, and the wild peony +with its variegated leaves. Many other delicate blossoms which we cannot +stop to describe are there too. And the ferns! All kinds may be found +by the initiated, and many are close at hand. The fern lined with gold +or with silver, the running ferns, the ferns of lace-like fineness, the +ferns as soft as velvet, all growing in the greatest profusion. And each +day of the week a different drive and new delights. + +There is the valley of El Cajon ("the box"), which should be visited in +grape-picking time. The great Boston ranch alone employs three hundred +and twenty-five pickers. Men, women, children, all busy, and the grapes +when just turned are sweet, spicy, and delicious, making the air +fragrant. This valley is dotted with handsome villas and prosperous +ranches. The range of mountains which looms up before us from the +veranda of the hotel is not yet dignified by a name, yet it is more +imposing than the White Mountains, and in the distance we see old +Cuyamaca, nearly seven thousand feet high. But we must take the next +train for San Diego, or this chapter will be a volume in itself. And I +have not even alluded to the "Great Back Country." + +The founder of San Diego is still living, still hopeful, still young at +heart. "Father" Horton, the typical pioneer, deserves more honors than +he has yet received. Coming from Connecticut to California in 1851, he +soon made a small fortune in mining, buying and selling gold-dust, and +providing the diggers with ice and water for their work. He rode over +the country in those lawless times selling the precious dust disguised +as a poverty-stricken good-for-naught, with trusty revolver always in +his right hand on the pommel of the saddle--the handsome green saddle +covered with an old potato sack. In this way he evaded the very men who +had been on his track for weeks. Once he came near capture. He passed a +bad-looking lot of horsemen, one of whom had a deep red scar the whole +length of his cheek. He got by safely, but one, looking round, +exclaimed, "My God! That's Horton! I see the green saddle." And back +they dashed to kill him and gain his treasure, but he escaped into a +canon, and they lost their one chance. + +At another time he had $3500 in gold in his belt, and at a tavern of +poor repute he could hear through cracks in the floor of his bedroom the +gamblers below laughing about the old greenhorn above who had his supper +of mush and milk and had asked for a lock on his door. + +Returning East _via_ Panama in 1856, he proved himself a hero and a +soldier during the terrible riot there. The natives, angry because they +had lost the money they used to make in transporting passengers, +attacked the foreigners, killing and plundering all who came in their +way, the police turning traitors and aiding them. The hotel was +attacked, and among all the passengers only three were armed. Mr. Horton +and these two young men stood at the top of the stairs and shot all who +tried to get nearer. When they fell back eight rioters were dead and +others wounded. Then Mr. Horton formed the two hundred passengers in +order and marched them off to a lighter, and put them aboard the +steamer. About half this number wanted to go on to San Francisco, but +had lost all their money and baggage. Mr. Ralston and Mr. Horton helped +many to pay their passage, but not one person was ever heard of again, +not one cent was returned, not even one word of gratitude or good +intentions. + +Up to the period which is known as the boom of 1870-71, the history of +San Diego was so interwoven and closely connected with the life of Mr. +Horton that the story of one is inseparable from that of the other. + +When Mr. Horton came from San Francisco to see the wonderful harbor +described by friends, there was nothing there but two old buildings, the +barren hillsides, and the sheep pastures. + +His gifts to the city and to individuals amount to a present valuation +of over a million of dollars. Of the nine hundred acres of land which he +originally bought (a part of the Mexican grant) at twenty-seven cents an +acre, he owns but little. + +But it is to his common sense, foresight, and business ability that the +present city owes much of its success; and it is interesting to hear him +tell of exciting adventures in "Poker Flat," and other places which Bret +Harte has worked up so successfully. + +Lieut. George H. Derby is amusingly associated with "Old Town," the +former San Diego, three miles from the present city. He had offended +Jefferson Davis, then Secretary of War, by his irreverent wit, and was +punished by exile to this then almost unknown region, which he called +"Sandy Ague," chiefly inhabited by the flea, the horned toad, and the +rattlesnake. Mr. Ames, of the _Herald_, a democratic paper, asked Derby, +a stanch whig, to occupy the editorial chair during a brief absence. He +did so, changing its politics at once, and furnishing funny articles +which later appeared as "Phoenixiana," and ranked him with Artemus Ward +as a genuine American humorist. Here is his closing paragraph after +those preposterous somersaults and daring pranks as editor _pro tem_: + +"Very little news will be found in the _Herald_ this week; the fact is, +there never is much news in it, and it is very well that it is so; the +climate here is so delightful that residents in the enjoyment of their +_dolce far niente_ care very little about what is going on elsewhere, +and residents of other places care very little about what is going on +in San Diego, so all parties are likely to be gratified with the little +paper, 'and long may it wave.'" + +The present city has eighteen thousand inhabitants, twenty-three church +organizations, remarkably fine schools, a handsome opera-house, broad +asphalt pavements, electric lights, electric and cable cars,--a compact, +well-built city, from the fine homes on the Heights to the business +portion near the water. + +In regard to society, I find that the "best society" is much the same +all over the civilized world. Accomplished, cultured, well-bred men and +women are found in every town and city in California. And distance from +metropolitan privileges makes people more independent, better able to +entertain themselves and their guests, more eagerly appreciative of the +best in every direction. + + "O city reflecting thy might from the sea, + There is grandeur and power in the future for thee, + Whose flower-broidered garments the soft billows lave, + Thy brow on the hillside, thy feet in the wave." + +Many of San Diego's guests have no idea of her at her best. The majority +of winter tourists leave California just as Mother Nature braces up to +do her best with wild-flowers, blossoming orchards, and waving +grain-fields. The summers are really more enjoyable than the winters. +When the Nicaragua Canal is completed it will be a pleasant trip to San +Diego from any Atlantic seaport. A railroad to Phoenix, Arizona, _via_ +Yuma, will allow the melting, panting, gasping inhabitants of New Mexico +and Arizona an opportunity to get into a delightfully cool climate. + + +THE INDIANS AND THE MISSION FATHERS. + +As for Indians, I have never seen such Indians as Helen Hunt Jackson +depicts so lovingly. I have never seen any one who has seen one. They +existed in her imagination only, as did Fenimore Cooper's noble redmen +of the forest solely in his fancy. Both have given us delightful novels, +and we are grateful. + +The repulsive stolid creatures I have seen at stations, with sullen +stare, long be-vermined locks, and filthy blankets full of fleas, are +possibly not a fair representation of the remnants of the race. They +have been unfairly dealt with. I am glad they can be educated and +improved. They seem to need it. After reading "Ramona" and Mrs. +Jackson's touching article on the "Mission Indians in California," and +then looking over the opinions of honest writers of a previous +generation regarding the Indians, it is more puzzling than ever. The +following criticisms apply exclusively to the Southern Californian +tribes. + +Mr. Robinson, after a twenty years' residence among them, said: "The +Indian of California is a species of monkey; he imitates and copies +white men, but selects vice in preference to virtue. He is hypocritical +and treacherous, never looks at any one in conversation, but has a +wandering, malicious gaze. Truth is not in him." + +And the next testimony is from an Indian curate: "The Indians lead a +life of indolence rather than devote themselves to the enlightening of +their souls with ideas of civilization and cultivation; it is repugnant +to their feelings, which have become vitiated by the unrestricted +customs among them. Their inclination to possess themselves of the +property of others is unbounded. Their hypocrisy when they pray is as +much to be feared as their insolence when in tumultuous disorder. They +are never grateful for any benefit, nor do they pardon an injury, and +they never proffer civilities, unless to accomplish some interested +motive. They are ready to expose themselves to the greatest danger to +satisfy their predominant passions. The future from them is ever veiled +by the present. Their inconstancy and want of confidence deprives them +of friends, and he who by deception holds them in subjection may reduce +them to almost abject slavery." + +Dana, speaking of the language of the Californian Indians, described it +as "brutish" and "a complete slabber." + +The missionary Fathers did their best to teach and convert them, and the +missions must be spoken of. So we will go back a little. + +No one knows how California was so named. St. Diego was the patron saint +of Spain. St. Francis, who founded the Franciscan order, was a gay young +Italian, who after conversion led a life of mortification and extreme +self-denial, tramped about like a beggar, scourged himself, slept on +ground, rolled in snow to subdue the flesh, fasted, wept until he was +almost blind, saw visions, like all other great religious leaders, +received messages directly from Christ, and was at last rewarded with +the stigmata (the marks of the crucifix on his body), and commemoration +after death. + +Father Junipero, of this order, was appointed presiding missionary of +California, and arrived July, 1769, erected a great cross on the coast, +celebrated mass, and commenced his work. Like St. Francis, he was +earnest, devout, pure, and self-sacrificing, blessed with wonderful +magnetism. Once, while exhorting his hearers to repent, he scourged his +own shoulders so unmercifully with a chain that his audience shuddered +and wept; and one man, overcome by emotion, rushed to the pulpit, +secured the chain, and, disrobing, flogged himself to death. This holy +Father believed that he was especially protected by Heaven, and that +once, when journeying on a desolate road, he was hospitably entertained +by the Holy Family. + +He said, "I have placed my faith in God, and trust in His goodness to +plant the standard of the holy cross not only at San Diego, but even as +far as Monterey." + +And this was done in less than ten years, but with many discouragements. + +The first Indian who was induced to bring his baby for baptism got +frightened, and dashed away, taking, however, the handsome piece of +cloth which had been wrapped around the child for the ceremony. + +Next there was an attack with arrows; in less than a month serious +fighting followed; and later more than one thousand Indians joined in +the attack. One priest was killed and all inhabitants of the mission +more or less wounded, and the mission itself was burned. The present +ruins are the "new" buildings on the site of the old, completed in 1784, +the walls of adobe four feet thick, the doorways and windows of burnt +tiles. These half-cylindrical plates of hard-burnt clay were used to +protect the inmates from the sun and the burning arrows of the Indians, +and are now greatly valued as relics. + +In front is the orchard of three hundred olive trees, more than a +century old, still bearing a full crop, and likely to do so for +centuries to come. As the Indians disliked work much, and church +services more, they were encouraged in both matters by rather forcible +means, as the Irishman "enticed" the pig into his pen with a pitchfork. +We "tourists" who, dismounting from our carriages, view with sentimental +reverence the picturesque ruins, the crumbling arches, the heavy bells +now silent but mutely telling a wondrous story of the past, and tiptoe +quietly through the damp interiors, gazing at pictures of saints and of +hell and paradise, dropping our coins into the box at the door, and +going out duly impressed to admire the architecture or the carving, or +the general fine effect against the sky of fleckless blue--we picture +these sable neophytes coming gladly, bowing in devout homage, delighted +to learn of God and Duty, and cheerfully cooeperating with the good +priests who had come so far to teach them. In 1827 the San Diego mission +had within its boundaries an Indian population of 1500, 10,000 head of +cattle, 17,000 sheep, and more than 1000 horses. But Mr. Robinson tells +us that the Indians were dragged to service, were punished and chained +if they tried to escape, and that it was not unusual to see numbers of +them driven along by a leader and forced with a whip-lash into the doors +of the sanctuary. + +It is said that they were literally enslaved and scared into submission +by dreadful pictures of hell and fear of everlasting torment. After +church they would gamble, and they often lost everything, even wives and +children. They were low, brutal, unintelligent, with an exceedingly +limited vocabulary and an unbounded appetite. A man is as he eats, and, +as some one says, "If a man eats peanuts he will think peanuts." + +"There was nothing that could be swallowed and digested which the San +Diego Indian would not eat. Snakes, half roasted and even raw, were +toothsome dainties. The horned toad and the lizard had favorite places +at each repast. Human parasites were not refused, and mice, gophers, +bats, caterpillars, worms, entrails, and even carrion, were consumed +with a greed that did not stop at pounds. Hittel says that twenty-four +pounds of meat in a day was not too much for a Californian Indian, and +Baegart mentions the case of one native who ate seventeen watermelons at +a sitting. The smoking of wild tobacco was carried on to equal excess." + +The saintly Fathers deserve unlimited praise for making them accomplish +so much and behave as well as they did. Those New Englanders who +criticise them as severe in discipline must remember that at the same +period our ancestors were persecuting Quakers and burning witches. The +beautiful hospitality of these early priests should also be mentioned. + +Alfred Robinson described a miracle play which he saw performed at San +Diego at Christmas, in 1830, as akin to the miracle plays of mediaeval +Europe. The actors took the part of Gabriel, Lucifer, shepherds, a +hermit, and Bartolo, a lazy vagabond who was the clown and furnished the +element of comedy: the whole interspersed with songs and incidents +better adapted to the stage than to the church. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +EN ROUTE TO LOS ANGELES. + + + "Bless me, this is pleasant, + Riding on the rail!" + +On the Surf Line from San Diego to Los Angeles, a seventy-mile run along +the coast, there is so much to see, admire, and think about, that the +time passes rapidly without napping or nodding. Take a chair seat on the +left of car--the ocean side--and enjoy the panoramic view from the +window: the broad expanse of the Pacific, its long curling breakers, the +seals and porpoises tumbling about in clumsy frolics, the graceful gulls +circling above them, the picturesque canons, and the flocks of birds +starting from the ground, frightened by our approach. This we watch for +more than an hour; then the scene changes, and, leaving the water, we +have glimpses of wondrous carpets of wild-flowers, the golden poppy +predominant, miles of brilliant green on either hand, peeps at the three +missions, the groves at Orange, the town of Santa Ana, and Anaheim, the +parent colony, the first of all the irrigated settlements of Southern +California, now a wealthy city. + +The missions are always interesting. San Juan Capistrano was seriously +injured by an earthquake in 1812; the tower was shaken so severely that +it toppled over during morning mass, killing thirty of the worshippers, +the priests escaping through the sacristy. It was the latest and +costliest of the missions. "Its broken olive mill and crumbling +dove-cote, and the spacious weed-grown courts and corridors, are +pathetic witnesses to the grandeur of the plans and purposes of the +founders, and also of the rapidity with which nature effaces the noblest +works of human hands." + +But San Luis Rey is in good condition, having been restored to something +of its original beauty, and recently re-dedicated. The walled +enclosures once contained fifty-six acres, six being covered by the +sacred edifice, its arched colonnades, and the cloisters, in which the +Fathers lived, surrounded by three thousand baptized savages. Mrs. +Jeanne C. Carr quotes a stage-driver with whom she talked on the box as +saying: "Ye see, ma'am, what them old padders didn't know 'bout findin' +work for their subjicks and pervidin' for the saints 'n' angels, not to +say therselves, wa'n't wuth knowin'. They carried on all kinds o' +bizness. Meat was plenty, keepin' an' vittles was to be had at all the +missions an' ranches too, jes' by settin' round. The pastures and hills +was alive with horses and cattle, an' hides an' taller was their coin. +They cured and stacked the hides, dug holes in stiff ground, an' run the +taller into 'em; it kep' sweet until a ship laid up to Capistrano, _then +that taller turned into gold_. They could load up a big ship in a single +day, they had so many Indians to help." And he proceeded to tell of his +own lucky find: "A lot of that holy taller was lost 'n' fergot, nobuddy +knows how many years. One night I went up into the grass beyant the +mission to stake out my hosses; an' when I druv the fust stake it went +way deawn, like 'twas in soft mud. I jes' yanked it up: half on 't was +kivered with grease. The evening was cool, but the day had been brilin', +an' now mebbe ye kin guess how I found my taller mine. 'Twas a leetle +mouldy on top, but the heft on 't was hard,--a reg'lar bonanzy fer a +stage-driver." + +It may seem irreverent to introduce this droll fellow in sharp contrast +with the beautiful ruin, full of the most cherished memories of old +Spain, but reality often gives romance a hard jar. It is pleasant to +know that the expelled Franciscan order has just returned to California, +and that San Luis Rey is now occupied. It is worth making the trip to +San Juan to see the old bells struck, as in former times, by a rope +attached to the clapper. They have different tones, and how eloquently +they speak to us. These missions along the coast and a line farther +inland are the only real ruins that we have in America, and must be +preserved, whether as a matter of sentiment or money, and in some way +protected from the vandals who think it jolly fun to lug off the old red +tiles, or even the stone bowl for holy water--anything they can steal. +At San Juan the plaster statues have been disgracefully mutilated by +relic-hunters and thoughtless visitors. Eyes have been picked out, noses +cut off, fingers carried away, and the altar-cloths everywhere have been +slashed at the corners. + +A society has been formed to try to save them, and one learned and +enthusiastic mission lover proposes to revive the old Camino del Rey, or +King's Highway. "What could not the drive from San Diego to Sonoma be +made if the State once roused herself to make it? Planted and watered +and owned as an illustration of forestry, why should it not also as a +route of pilgrimage rank with that to Canterbury or Cologne on the +Rhine? The Franciscans have given to California a nomenclature which +connects them and us permanently with what was great in their +contemporary history, while we preserve daily upon our lips the names of +the great chiefs of their own order." + +But where am I? Those mouldering walls led me into a reverie. Speaking +of "ruins" reminds me of a Frenchman who called on the poet Longfellow +in his old age and explained his visit in this way: "Sare, you 'ave no +ruins in dis country, so I 'ave come to see you." + +The cactus hedge around each mission to keep the cattle in, and possibly +the hostile Indians out, must have been effective. We see now and then a +little that has survived. This makes me think of a curious bird I +noticed in my drives at San Diego, the roadrunner, classed with the +cuckoo. It has various names, the chaparral-cock, the ground-cuckoo, the +prairie-cock, paisano, and worst of all, in classic nomenclature, the +_Geococcyx californianus_. + +It keeps on the ground most of the time, and can run with such swiftness +that it cannot be easily overtaken by horse and hounds. It has a tail +longer than its body, which it bears erect. It kills beetles, toads, +birds, and mice, but has a special dislike for the rattlesnake, and +often meets him and beats him in fair combat. When it finds one sleeping +or torpid it makes a circle of cactus thorns around him so he cannot +escape--for "future reference," as my driver said. + +This thorny circle is akin to the lariat made of horsehair, the ends +sticking out roughly all around, with which the Indian used to encircle +himself before going to sleep, as a protection from the rattlesnake, who +could not cross it. But here we are at Los Angeles. Hear the bawling +cabbies: "This way for The Westminster!" "Hollenbeck Hotel!" + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +LOS ANGELES AND ROUND ABOUT. + + + "O southland! O dreamland! with cycles of green; + O moonlight enchanted by mocking-bird's song; + Cool sea winds, fair mountains, the fruit-lands between, + The pepper tree's shade, and the sunny days long." + +Los Angeles is the chief city of Southern California, and truly +venerable in comparison with most places in the State--founded in 1781, +now one hundred and twelve years old. Its full name, "Nuestra Senora la +Reina de los Angeles," "musical as a chime of bells," would hardly do in +these days, and "The City of the Angels," as it is sometimes called, +scarcely suits the present big business-y place, which was started by +those shrewd old padres when everything west of the Alleghanies was an +almost unknown region, and Chicago and St. Louis were not thought of. +These Fathers were far-sighted fellows, with a keen eye for the +beautiful, sure to secure good soil, plenty of water, and fine scenery +for a settlement. Next came the Hispano-American era of adobe, +stage-coaches, and mule teams, now replaced by the purely American +possessions, with brick, stone, vestibule trains, and all the wonders of +electricity. It is now a commercial centre, a railroad terminal, with +one hundred miles of street-car track within the city limits, carrying +twelve million passengers yearly. It has outgrown the original grant of +six miles square, and has a city limit, and the first street traversed +this square diagonally. It lies on the west bank of the Los Angeles +River, one of those peculiar streams which hides itself half the year +only to burst forth in the spring in a most assertive manner. There are +fine public buildings, fifty-seven churches, to suit all shades of +religious belief, two handsome theatres, several parks, and long streets +showing homes and grounds comparing favorably with the best environs of +Eastern cities. It is well to drive through Adams and Figueroa streets +before you leave. There are no attractive hotels at present; but one is +so greatly needed and desired that it will soon be designed and +realized. + +Madame de Stael was right when she said she greatly preferred meeting +interesting men and women to admiring places or scenery. Among my +pleasantest memories of Los Angeles are my visits to Madame Fremont in +her pretty red cottage, presented by loving friends. It is a privilege +to meet such a clever, versatile woman. Her conversation flashes with +epigrams and pithy sayings, and her heart is almost as young as when it +was captured by the dashing "Pathfinder." + +I believe there are men still existing who keep up the old absurd +fallacy that women are deficient in wit and humor! She would easily +convert all such. + +The Coronels, to whom Mrs. Jackson was so indebted and of whom she wrote +so appreciatively, are still in the same home, cherishing her memory +most fondly, her photograph being placed in a shrine where the +sweet-faced madame kneels daily, and her books and knick-knacks are +preserved as precious souvenirs. + +Don Antonio Coronel is truly a most interesting personage, the last +specimen of the grand old Spanish regime. His father was the first +schoolmaster in California, and the son has in his possession the first +schoolbook printed on this coast, at Monterey in 1835, a small +catechism; also the first book printed in California, a tiny volume +dated 1833, the father having brought the type from Spain. + +I was taken to the basement to see a rare collection of antiquities. In +one corner is a cannon made in 1710, and brought by Junipero Serra. +Ranged on shelves is a collection such as can be found nowhere else, of +great value: strange stone idols, a few specimens of the famous +iridescent pottery, queer ornaments, toys, and relics. In another corner +see the firearms and weapons of long ago: old flintlocks, muskets, +Spanish bayonets, crossbows, and spears. There are coins, laces, +baskets, toys, skulls, scalps, and a sombrero with two long red +pennons, on which each feather represents a human scalp. Upstairs there +are early specimens of Mexican art; one of the oldest pictures of +Junipero Serra; groups in clay modelled by the Dona Mariana of Mexican +scenes; feather pictures made from the plumage of gorgeous birds--too +much to remember or describe here. But I do believe that if asked to say +what they valued most, they would point to the little wooden table where +their dear friend sat when she wrote the first pages of "Ramona." + +For the stranger Los Angeles is the place to go to to see a new play, or +marvel at the display of fruits seen at a citrus fair--forts made of +thousands of oranges, and railroad stations and crowns of lemons, +etc.--and admire a carnival of flowers, or for a day's shopping; but +there are better spots in which to remain. I found the night air +extremely unpleasant last winter, and after hearing from a veracious +druggist, to whom I applied for a gargle, that there was an epidemic of +grip in the city, and that many died of pneumonia and that a small +majority of the invalids got well, I packed my trunk hastily and started +for Pasadena. + +Those who live in the city and those who do not dislike raw, bracing +winds from the ocean pronounce Los Angeles to be the _only_ place worth +living in in all Southern California. Each place has its supporters +ignoring all other attractions, and absolutely opposite accounts of the +weather have been seriously given me by visitors to each. For those who +must be "high and dry" to improve, the rainy season is certainly unsafe. + +Los Angeles is also a place to go from to the beach at Santa Monica, and +Redondo, or that wondrous island, "Santa Catalina," which has been +described by Mr. C. F. Holder in the _Californian_ so enthusiastically +that I should think the "Isle of Summer" could not receive all who would +unite to share his raptures--with a climate nearer to absolute +perfection than any land, so near all the conveniences of civilization, +and everything else that can be desired. His first jew-fish or black +sea-bass weighed 3421/2 pounds, and a dozen other varieties are gamy and +plentiful; fine sport with the rifle in the upland region, wealth of +verdure along the trail; below, good hotel, beaches, bathing, evening +concerts--"the true land of sweet idleness, where one can drift around +with all nature to entertain." To be strictly truthful, I must add that +the hotel was built just over an old Indian burying-ground, therefore +cases of typhoid fever are not unknown. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +PASADENA. + + + "If there be an Elysium upon earth, + It is this, it is this." + +For my own taste, I prefer Pasadena, the "Crown of the Valley"--nine +miles from Los Angeles, but eight hundred feet higher and with much +drier air, at the foot of the Sierra Madre range, in the beauteous San +Gabriel Valley. Yes, Pasadena seems to me as near Eden as can be found +by mortal man. + +Columbus in a letter to Ferdinand and Isabella said, "I believe that if +I should pass under the equator in arriving at this higher region of +which I speak, I should find there a milder temperature and a diversity +in the stars and in the waters.... I am convinced that there is the +Terrestrial Paradise." + +Poor persecuted Columbus! I wish he could have once seen Pasadena, the +very spot he dreamed of. Can I now write calmly, critically, judicially +of what I see, enjoy, admire and wonder over? If I succeed it will be +what no one else has done. I was here last year and gave my impressions +then, which are only strengthened by a second visit, so that I will +quote my own words, which read like the veriest gush, but are absolutely +true, came straight from my heart, and, after all, didn't half tell the +story. + +I am fascinated and enthralled by your sun-kissed, rose-embowered, +semi-tropical summer-land of Hellenic sky and hills of Hymettus, with +its paradoxical antitheses: of flowers and flannels; strawberries and +sealskin sacks; open fires with open windows; snow-capped mountains and +orange blossoms; winter looking down upon summer--a topsy-turvy land, +where you dig for your wood and climb for your coal; where water-pipes +are laid above ground, with no fear of Jack Frost, and your principal +rivers flow bottom side up and invisible most of the time; where the +boys climb up hill on burros and slide down hills on wheels; where the +trees are green all the year, and you go outdoors in December to get +warm; where squirrels live in the ground with owls for chums, while rats +build in the trees, and where water runs up hill; where anything +unpleasant, from a seismic disturbance to mosquitoes in March, is +"exceptional" and surprising. A land where there are no seasons, but +where sunshine and shade are so distinctly marked that one can be easily +half baked on one side and dangerously chilled on the other. + +Then the Climate--spell it with a capital, and then try to think of an +adjective worthy to precede it. Glorious! Delicious! Incomparable! +Paradisaical!!! To a tenderfoot straight from New Hampshire, where we +have nine months of winter and three of pretty cold weather, where we +have absolutely but three months that are free from frost, this seems +like enchanted ground. + +A climate warm, with a constant refreshing coolness in its heart; cool, +with a latent vivifying warmth forever peeping out of its coat-tail +pocket. + +June does not define it, nor September. It has no synonym, for there is +nothing like it. I am glad that I have lived to see hedges of +heliotrope, of geraniums and calla-lilies. I remember, in contrast, +solitary calla plants that I have nursed with care all winter in hopes +of one blossom for Easter. And I do not feel sure that I can ever tear +myself away. I am reminded of good old Dr. Watts, who was invited by +Lady Abney to pass a fortnight at her home, and remained for forty +years. + +Here we all unconsciously eat the lotus in some occult fashion, are +straightway bewitched and held willing captives. I have looked up the +lotus, about which so much is said or sung and so little definitely +known, and find it is a prickly shrub of Africa, bearing a fruit of a +sweet taste, and the early Greeks knew all about its power. Homer in the +Odyssey says that whoever ate of the fruit wished never to depart nor +again to see his native land. Many of Ulysses' sailors ate this fruit, +and lost all desire for home. + +The last letter received by me from New Hampshire, April 3d, begins in +this way: "It is like the middle of winter here, good sleighing and +still very cold." And then comes a sad series of announcements of +sickness and deaths caused by the protracted rigors of the season. And +here, at the same date, all the glories of the spring, which far exceeds +our summer--Spanish breezes, Italian sky and sunsets, Alpine mountains, +tropical luxuriance of vegetation, a nearly uniform climate, a big +outdoor conservatory. There is no other place on earth that combines so +much in the same limits. You can snowball your companions on Christmas +morning on the mountain-top, pelt your lady friends with rose leaves in +the foot-hills three hours later, and in another sixty minutes dip in +the surf no cooler than Newport in July; and the theatre in the evening. +As a bright workman said, you can freeze through and thaw out in one +day. + +An electric railroad will soon connect Los Angeles with Pasadena and +Mount Wilson, and a fine hotel is to be placed on the top of Echo +Mountain, 3500 feet high, and this will then certainly be the ideal +health and pleasure resort of the world. + +Pasadena's homes, protected on three sides by mountain ranges, are +surrounded by groves and gardens, trees and hedges from every clime. +Everything will grow and flourish here. Capitalists from the East seem +engaged in a generous rivalry to create the ideal paradise. Passion +vines completely cover the arbors, roses clamber to the tops of houses +and blossom by tens of thousands. I notice displays fit for a floral +show in the windows of butcher shops and shoe stores. The churches are +adorned with a mantle of vines and flowers. + +Are there no "outs," no defects in this Pasadena? One must not forget +the rainy days, the occasional "hot spells" of August and September, a +wind now and then that blows off steeples and tears down fragile +structures, bringing along a good deal more sand than is wanted. And +every year an earthquake may be expected. I have experienced two, and +they are not agreeable. + +Aside from these drawbacks and dust in summer, all else is perfection, +except that the weather is so uniformly glorious that there is seldom a +day when one is willing to stay at home. I feel just now like a +"deestrick" schoolboy who has been "kept in" on a summer afternoon. + +The wild-flowers are more fascinating to me than all those so profusely +cultivated. I weary of five thousand calla-lilies in one church at +Easter, and lose a little interest in roses when they bloom perennially +and in such profusion that I have had enough given me in one morning to +fill a wash-tub or clothes-basket! + +The wealth of color on the hills and mesas in springtime can never be +described or painted. The State flower, the yellow poppy with the name +that would floor any spelling-match hero--the eschscholtzia--is most +conspicuous, and can be seen far away at sea; but there are dozens of +others, that it is better to admire and leave unplucked, as they wilt so +soon. "The ground is literally dolly-vardened with buttercups, violets, +dodecatheons, gilias, nemophilas, and the like. And yet these are the +mere skirmish line of the mighty invading hosts, whose uniforms surpass +the kingly robes of Solomon, and whose banners of crimson and yellow and +purple will soon wave on every hilltop and in every valley. + +"In April and May the lover of nature may pass into the seventh heaven +of botanical delight. Then in favored sections the display reaches a +gorgeousness and a profusion that surpass both description and +imagination." + +No one can paint the grain fields as they look when the sun puts into +every blade a tiny golden ray and it is no longer every-day common +grain, but an enchanted carpet of living, radiant, golden green. We +tourists call it grass, but there is no grass to be proud of in +California. + +No one can paint the sky; no one would accept it as true to nature if +once caught on the canvas. + +I will not attempt to describe the mountains with their many charms. I +listened to a lecture lately where a man was struggling to do this, and +it was positively painful. The flowery verbiage, the accumulated +adjectives, the poetical quotations were overpowering. I seemed actually +sinking into luscious mellifluousness. I shook it off my fingers, as if +it were maple syrup. Then, as he climbed higher and higher, on and up, +never getting away from the richest verdure and the sweetest flowers, +scenes for an artist to paint with rapture, and a poet to sing in +ecstasy, I found myself pushing up my forehead to improvise a mansard +roof for my brain to swell in sympathy. And when he reached the summit +and the panorama burst upon his enraptured vision, it was too much for +my strained emotions, and I quietly slipped out. + +And the strangest part is that every word is true, and, say what one +will, one never gets near the reality. In this respect, you see, it +differs from a floral catalogue sent out in early spring, or a hotel +pamphlet with illustrations. + +The cable road is 3000 feet long, with a direct ascent of 1400 feet, and +the Echo Mountain House will be 1500 feet higher than the Catskill +hotels overlooking the Hudson, and it is estimated that not less than +60,000 fares will be collected upon this mountain railroad the first +year. + +All this was designed and executed by Professor Lowe, of aeronaut fame, +a scientist and banker, the inventor of water-gas and artificial ice, +and a man of great business ability. + +One of the best proofs of the health-giving power of this air is the +fact that the physicians practising here, with one exception, came +seriously ill and have not only recovered, but are strong enough to keep +very busy helping others. + +Pasadena has no ragged shabby outskirts; the poorer classes seem to be +able to own or rent pretty little homes, some like large birdcages, all +well kept and attractive. Some gentlemen from Indianapolis came here in +1873 and started the town, planting their orange orchards under the +shadows of the mountains. + +Each portion has its own attractions. Orange Grove Avenue, a street over +a mile long, is described by its name. Great trees stand in the centre +of the street, a fine road on either side, and the homes are embowered +in flowers and palms, while hedges are made of the pomegranate, the +honeysuckle, and even the heliotrope. Marengo Avenue is lined on either +side by splendid specimens of the pepper, the prettiest and most +graceful of all trees here. Colorado Street, with its homes and shops +and churches, leads out to the foot-hills and "Altadena," which is often +spoken of as recalling the handsome residences along the Riviera. + +The street cars which go from the station toward the mountains bear on +each the words, "This Car for the Poppy Fields," and they are a sight +worth seeing. Mrs. Kellog describes this flower more perfectly than any +artist could paint it: "Think of finest gold, of clearest lemon, of +deepest orange on silkiest texture, just bedewed with a frost-like +sheen, a silvery film, and you have a faint impression of what an +eschscholtzia is. Multiply this impression by acres of waving color." +And in February this may sometimes be seen. It has been well chosen for +the State flower. + +If consumptives must go away from the comforts of home, this is a haven +of rest for them. In a late _Medical Record_ I see that a physician +deprecates the custom of sending hopeless cases to the high altitudes of +Colorado, where the poor victim gasps out a few weeks or months of +existence. "If such cases as the above must be sent from home, as we +sometimes think here, to rid their home physicians of the annoyance of +their presence, they should be sent to Florida or Southern California, +where at least they may be chloroformed off into eternity by a soothing +climate, and not suffer an actual shortening of their days from a +climate acting on a radically different principle and entirely unsuited +to them." + +This is a bit of the shady side after all the sunlight. It is a place +for the invalid to rejoice in, and those in robust health can find +enough to do to employ all their energies. + +The "Tournament of Roses" last winter was a grand success, praised by +all. The "Pageant of Roses" was celebrated here lately, and I cannot +give you a better idea of it than by copying the synopsis. + +Imagine the opera-house trimmed inside with wreaths and festoons and +bouquets of roses--a picture in itself; audience in full evening dress, +each lady carrying roses, each man with a rose for a boutonniere. + +The dancing in costume was exquisitely graceful, and the evolutions and +figures admirably exact--no mistake, nothing amateurish about the whole +performance. + + PART FIRST. + + Los Flores, a garden in the Crown of the Valley. Goddess Flora and + her pages asleep. Harlequin, the magic spirit, enters, produces by + incantation the rain and summons the maiden Spring, who rouses the + Goddess and her pages. The Goddess commands the Harlequin to usher + in the Pageant of Roses. Enter the Red or Colonial Roses; march and + form for the reception and dance of the Ladies of the Minuet. + Retire. Harlequin, at the request of the Goddess, summons the Gold + of Ophirs, bearing urn as offering to the Goddess, when is + performed the dance of the Orient, including solo. Curtain falls on + tableau. + + PART SECOND. + + Same garden. Goddess on her throne, surrounded by her pages. She + summons the Harlequin, who in turn brings the Roses of Castile. + They bring offering of flowers to the Goddess, and perform a dance. + + + Goddess again summons Harlequin, who, by great effort, brings the + Roses of the Snow, or the Little Girls from Boston, led by Frost + Maiden. They perform a dance and retire. Both Harlequins enter, + perform a dance, and command the blooming of the Pink Rose Buds. + Pink Rose Buds enter without offering for the Goddess, and prevail + upon the Harlequins to help them out of their difficulties. The + Harlequins send Poppies for the great La France Rose Buds as an + offering, and perform "The Transformation of the Rose." Rose Buds + dance and are joined by the little Roses in the Snow. All dance and + retire. Enter White Harlequin, who calls for the White Rose dance + by the Greek maidens. They perform ceremonies and deck the altar of + their Goddess, dance and retire. Curtain. + + PART THIRD. + + Grand march. Tableau, with falling Rose petals, in the magic canon. + +And not a word yet of The Raymond, that popular house set upon a hill +that commands a view hard to equal. The house is always filled to +overflowing, and this year General Wentworth tells me the business has +been better than ever. This famous resort is in East Pasadena, and has +its own station. It is always closed in April, just at the time when +there is the most to see and enjoy, and the flowers are left to bloom +unseen. + +The other fine hotel here, named for its owner, Colonel Green of +"August Flower" fame, is on ground eight feet higher, although by the +conformation of the land it does not look so. + +Many prefer to be in the town and nearer the mountains, and this house +proving insufficient for its patrons, an addition four times the size of +the present building is being added in semi-Moorish architecture, at a +cost of $300,000. + +That item shows what an experienced man of business thinks about the +future of Pasadena. + +The town is full of pleasant boarding-houses, as Mrs. Dexter's, Mrs. +Bangs's, and Mrs. Roberts's, and many enjoy having rooms at one house +and taking meals at another. You can spend as much or as little as you +choose. At Mrs. Snyder's I found simple but delicious old-fashioned +home-cooking at most reasonable rates. + +And still more? Yes, the Public Library must be mentioned, the valuable +collections I was permitted to see, the old mission of San Gabriel +three miles away, and then I shall give the next chapter to my brother, +who spent a week on Mt. Wilson, and came down wonderfully benefited even +by that short stay. One invalid he met there had gained four pounds in +as many days. His ambition now is to open a law office up among the +clouds and transact business by telephone, saying the fact that his +clients could not see him would be no disadvantage. + +While he is discoursing I will be studying the history of the Indian +baskets and report later. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +CAMPING ON MOUNT WILSON. + + + "On every height there lies repose." + +At Pasadena the mountain wall which guards the California of the South +stands very near and looks down with pride upon the blooming garden +below. The mountains which belong especially to Pasadena are but three +miles away. Their average height exceeds slightly that of the Mt. +Washington range in New Hampshire. The Sierra Madre system, of which +they form a part, contains some peaks considerably higher. + +Farther to the East, "Old Baldy"--Mt. San Antonio--raises its snowy +summit to a height just close enough to ten thousand feet to test the +veracity of its admirers. It is about ten miles from Pasadena by the +eyes, but would be twenty by the feet, if they could walk an air line. + +To the south and east of "Old Baldy" is Mt. San Jacinto, 12,000 feet +above the Pacific, upon which it looks, in the far distance. + +The majestic mountain wall, almost bending over the homes of Pasadena, +with their vines and fig trees, their roses and lilies, their orchards +of orange and lemon, and the distant snow-clad peaks glittering in the +gentle sunshine, combine to form a perfect picture. There are detailed +descriptions from the pens of those who feel an unctuous joy in painting +the lily, kalsomining the calla, and adding perfumes to the violet, the +rose, and the orange. + +The "Pasadena Alps" are so smeared with oleaginous gush that I had +conceived against them a sort of antipathy, which was not diminished by +their barren, treeless appearance. + +As Nature reasserted herself, this artificial nausea wore away. I took a +drive to Millard's Canon, and was surprised at finding a charming wooded +road winding up through the canon along a mountain stream. From the end +of the carriage-road we walked half a mile to a picturesque waterfall +having a sheer descent of perhaps forty feet. + +This revelation inspired a drive to Eaton's Canon, where I found similar +attractions, and which led me to the new Mt. Wilson trail, or "Toll +Road." I made inquiries, inspected the small but substantial mules which +do the pedestrian part of the trip, went up the trail a short distance, +and, after many assurances, arranged to make the ascent. + +In fact, this trail is remarkably well built. It winds up the mountain +by a gradual and even ascent of nine miles, the grade nowhere exceeding +ten per cent. There are two camps near the summit, open all the year. +You may return the same day or stay for the remainder of your life. + +Take little luggage, of course: a heavy overcoat or wrap, and a small +grip. In the winter the nights are cold, and clouds and rain are not +unlikely to present the compliments of the season. + +The mountains of California are as topsy-turvy as its rivers. We used +to learn in our physical geographies that as the traveller ascends a +mountain the large trees continually give place to smaller--shrinking at +last to stunted shrubs, with a summit of barren rock. + +As our mules plod up Mt. Wilson, the trail at first is sandy, and the +mountain's flanks a barren waste, with thin covering of cactus and +chaparral. Half a mile from the starting-point appear small bushes, +which grow larger as we move upward. The trail turns into a canon, and +becomes a hard, cool pathway leading up through small live-oaks and high +growth of bushes. We begin to see slender pines and larger oaks. Now the +trail leaves the canon and winds out upon the open mountain-side. Here +the chaparral is green and flourishing. + +We wind abruptly into a canon. Bushes of wild lilac overhang the path. +The manzanita reminds one of lilies of the valley transplanted to +California and growing on a bush. Down to the torrent at the bottom of +the canon, and up its steep side, are large pines and live-oaks, +mountain mahogany and cedar. Near the summit we wind along a precipice +where the trail is blasted from the solid rock. Even here, any one who +is disposed to "look aloft" will see pine trees hanging over his head +hundreds of feet above. + +The summit is a forest of towering trees. On the topmost ridges are the +monarchs of the mountains--oaks three and four feet, and pines four and +five feet in diameter. Of course this increase in the size of timber is +noticeably uniform, only where the soil and natural features of the +mountains favor it. But the summit of Mt. Wilson, at least, resembles a +picnic ground raised nearly six thousand feet above the sea. The air is +light, dry, and exhilarating. The ground is carpeted with pine needles. +Delicate wild-flowers are seen in their season. In April I found wild +peas in blossom, harebells, morning-glories, poppies, and many varieties +of yellow flowers. I also saw hummingbirds, butterflies, swallows, and +squirrels, and here and there patches of plain white old-fashioned snow. +It is a novel spectacle to see a small boy snowballing a butterfly. In +the spring even dead trees are glorified with a mantle of golden green +moss. It covers the trunks of some of the living pines, making an +artistic background for the deep green of their boughs. + +From this upside-down mountain we look down upon rivers flowing bottom +side up. And that is California. + +As to the safety of the ascent, no one need hesitate who is free from +settled prejudice against a side-hill. You will soon let the reins hang +from the pommel of the saddle. One who chooses may jump off and walk for +a change. Only, if you are at the end of the procession, be careful to +keep between your mule and the foot of the mountain; otherwise he will +wheel around and wend his way homeward. If toiling along near the +summit, absorbed in the beauties of the prospect, it might be awkward to +feel the halter jerked from your hand and to see the mule galloping +around a sharp bend with your satchel, hung loosely over the pommel, +bobbing violently up and down, and perhaps hurled off into space as the +intelligent animal rounds the corner. + +Yes, it is safe, but there is a spice of excitement about it. I was +nervous at first, and seeing that the mule wished to nibble such herbage +as offered itself, I had thought it well to humor him. At a narrow space +with sharp declivity below, the beast fixed his jaws upon a small tough +bush on the upper bank. As he warmed up to the work, his hind feet +worked around toward the edge of the chasm. The bush began to come out +by the roots, which seemed to be without end. As the weight of the mule +was thrown heavily backward, I looked forward with some apprehension to +the time when the root should finally give way: I saw now that the mule +had fixed his stubborn jaws upon the entrails of the mountain, and +expected every instant to see other vital organs brought to light. I +dared not and could not move. The root gave way, allowing the mule to +fall backward, and startling him with a rattling down of stones and +gravel. One foot slipped over the edge, but three stuck to the path, and +the majority prevailed. After that I saw it was safer to let my faithful +beast graze on the outer edge. All went well until he became absorbed in +following downward the foliage of a bush which grew up from below. As +he stretched his neck farther and farther down, I saw that he was +bending his forelegs. His shoulders sank more and more. There was +nothing between me and the sea-level except the mule's ears. By frantic +exertions I worked myself backward, and was sliding down behind--too +late. The bush broke, causing the mule to fall back forcibly against the +inner bank, with myself sandwiched between the adamantine wall of the +mountain and the well-shod heels of the mule. The animal, being as much +scared as myself, started up the trail at a gallop. I had saved my life +but lost my mule. I have no taste for overtaking runaway mules on a +steep and interminable up-grade. It is a taste which must be acquired. +But then, of course, the mule would turn after his first alarm and tear +down to the stable. I resolved to push on in the hope of finding a wider +portion of the path, or at least of meeting the animal before he had +acquired uncontrollable momentum. + +At the very first turn a boy appeared hurrying back with my palfry. The +mule had galloped on until he overtook the rest of the party, who had +sent him back in haste, while they followed on as quickly as possible. + +It flashed upon my mind that the mule understands his business. We +imagine, egotistically, that the mule is all the time thinking about us, +and that he may take umbrage at some fancied slight and leap with us +down the abyss. Now the mule does not care to make the descent in that +way. He is thinking about himself just like the rest of us. We are only +so much freight packed upon his back. + +The foregoing narrative may be exaggerated in some details, but the +essential facts remain, that the mule has a healthy appetite and that he +looks out for himself. + +A little further on I had an opportunity to judge how a passenger would +conduct himself if he should be thrown from the trail. At the point +where the slope of the mountains is most abrupt, certain repairs had +lately been made upon the trail, and a man was now prying large stones +over the edge. They rolled and tumbled down, taking wild leaps into the +air and plunging from rock to rock. After they disappeared in the woods +we could hear them crashing and clattering down the canon. A small +avalanche of broken fragments followed in their wake. + +It must have been a fine sight when the blasting was first done in the +side of the rocky precipice: when huge masses of rock, half as big as a +house, were rent from the side of the mountain and thundered down with +frightful crash, cutting off huge trees and shaking the very mountains. +And now I will say again that the trail is wide and safe; the slopes on +the side are seldom very steep, and the mules could not be pushed over +by any available power. + +Some people, in fact, prefer the old trail because it is more wild and +romantic and not so well kept. The new road has enough picturesque +features to satisfy me. + +I remember when the valley came in sight again, after half an hour's +climbing, the first objects to catch my eye were the storage reservoirs, +which dot the valley and are used in irrigation. Their regular shapes +and the margins of masonry about them give them, from the mountains, +the appearance of mirrors. One seemed almost directly below. Probably it +was at least a hundred feet in length. In the form of a rectangle with +rounded corners, it was the exact counterpart of a framed mirror. The +surface was like polished glass, and trees upon the bank were reflected +with beautiful distinctness. + +After another half-hour's ride comes a glimpse in the other direction. +Through a gap in the mountains we look for a moment behind the hills of +Pasadena into the heart of the Sierra Madre. Vistas of mountain-sides +are seen on either hand, one beyond the other, the long slope of one +slightly overlapping that of its nearer neighbor, offering for our +inspection a succession of blue tints, becoming more and more delicate +in the distance till they melt into the sky. + +The mules care less for visible azure than for edible verdure, and soon +carried us by this picture. Far up the trail is a pretty scene upon our +own mountain. Suddenly we came out of the cool, wild forest upon a +little level spot, by the spring of the mountain stream. Here is an old +camp with green grass growing up about the deserted building. After a +final winding journey around the steep southerly side of the mountain, +came the first full view of the wild chaos of broken ranges toward the +desert. Then follows a gradual shaded ascent to the camp. The world has +varied panoramas of mountain scenery "set off" by the glitter of snowy +peaks. In California there are many accessible summits rising from +half-tropical valleys. Mountains which overlook the sea are without +number. There may be in America other points from which one may look +down upon a "city of homes," and a "business centre" with sixty thousand +busy inhabitants. I do not know any spot apart from the mountains of +Pasadena where you may put all of these in combination. From the +northerly peak of Mt. Wilson to the southerly peak of Mt. Harvard is a +distance by trail along the ridge of perhaps three miles, offering a +variety of points of view. To the north and east you may look down into +a gorge two thousand feet beneath, from which rises on the gentle breeze +the mingled voice of brawling brook and murmuring pines. Beyond is a +confusion of green mountains, from which a range of white summits rises +in the calm distance. Toward the south are solitary peaks with halos of +fleecy cloud. + +As for the prospect in the other direction, it shows at once that the +way to print upon the mind a map of California's physical formation is +to see it _a la_ bird's-eye--as the short path to acquaintance with a +great city is a vertical one--to the tower of the City Hall. + +One would require but a few more well-selected stations to map out all +of Southern California. + +The several valleys of which Los Angeles is the commercial capital are +stretched out before us like perfectly level plains, divided by ranges +of hills. In the distance lies the glistening Pacific, with the blue +outlines of Catalina and more distant islands etched upon the western +sky. This picture is sometimes so distinct that you find yourself +trying to recognize acquaintances on the streets of Pasadena. Again +everything is dreamy with haze. Another morning you may stumble out +trying to rub yesterday's sunburn from your eyes, and find everything +below curtained by a bank of snowy fog. As for myself, I enjoy the +prospect most when I cannot see it at all--that is, at night. + +There is a varied interchange of signals between the mountains and the +valley. At noon the people here talk with their Pasadena friends by +gleaming flashlight. Then there are the reservoirs scattered over the +valley. In certain lights they are not seen at all, but in line with the +sun they send up great flash signals themselves, and just after sunset +they are always seen reflecting the calm twilight. An hour after sunset +our camp-fire is lighted. As we stand by it, the horizon seems to have +retired for the night. There is continuous sky, shading without a break +into the shadows below. Gazing dreamily down, I am startled by the +flashing forth of a hundred brilliant stars from what was the valley +below. They disappear for a moment and then blaze out and become a +permanent constellation. These stars are too numerous to resemble any +known constellation. I concluded after a little that the mighty Orion +had drawn his sword and slain the Great Bear; that the lion had rashly +interfered and his carcass had been dragged to that of the bear, and +that the exhausted Orion had thrown himself wearily upon them to rest. +And there are the Pleiades close by; with feminine curiosity they have +come as near as they dared, to see what it is all about. + +Those wishing a scientific explanation of these phenomena must consult +the Pasadena Electric Lighting Company, except as to the stray Pleiades, +which seem to have some connection with the lights of the Raymond Hotel. + +But what is that dim and curious meteor slowly moving toward the spot +where Los Angeles used to be? Perhaps it is the headlight which heralds +the coming of the belated overland train. Suddenly I see out of the +darkness beyond Pasadena the blazing forth of a majestic cross, of +wavering, uneven outline, but made up of crowded multitudes of +sparkling, glittering, scintillating stars. Los Angeles has +substantially the same system of street illumination as Pasadena. + +You will note that I have abstained from hauling the sun above the +eastern Sierras in the morning, and from tucking it under the Pacific at +night. This rearrangement of ponderous constellations is all that my +strength and my other engagements will permit. Those who want to know +the glories of the sunset and moonlight must climb Mt. Wilson +themselves. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +CATCHING UP ON THE KITE-SHAPED TRACK. + + +Not the kite-shaped track of new-made trotting records and pneumatic +tires, but a track upon which you may pass a pleasant day riding after +the iron horse. + +The route extends easterly from Los Angeles to San Bernardino _via_ +Pasadena. Beyond San Bernardino is the "loop," which will take us twelve +miles farther east to Mentone, and around an oval curve back to San +Bernardino. Thence we kite down to Riverside, then southwesterly to +Orange, and so up to Los Angeles. Leaving Los Angeles at 9 A.M. you may +return by 4 P.M., with time for dinner at San Bernardino. + +Taking the traveller back and forth across the central part of Southern +California as it does, the kite-shaped trip is naturally a favorite +with tourists, and, as its "catchy" name indicates, it caters to that +element of travel. One always sees also anxious and eager "prospectors" +or expectant settlers, who lose no opportunity to inquire all about +citrus and deciduous fruits, and prices of land and of water for +irrigating the same. This excursion will show you the heart of the +orange belt or belts of Southern California, especially on the northern +and eastern sides of the "kite." + +The schedule of trains allows of convenient stop-overs, and several may +be made to advantage. + +Pasadena and Riverside of course must not be passed by. A short stay at +Orange or Anaheim gives an interesting glimpse of a region where orange +culture is combined with that of other citrus fruits, as well as the +grape and olive. + +Aside from these points, the most interesting feature of the trip is the +"loop" beyond San Bernardino. The town of San Bernardino is a thriving +business centre. Perhaps it is on this account that its appearance from +the car window is not as attractive as that of Riverside or Pasadena, +which from all points of view seem peacefully embowered in half-tropic +foliage. But away from the railroads San Bernardino also has its +charming residence district, with the same general characteristics as +its sister towns. + +Upon the "loop" a stop should be made at Redlands, an interesting spot, +where the successful culture of oranges is carried on at a much higher +elevation than was thought possible until a few years ago. There is +never any frost there to injure the fruit. The Hotel Terracina, on the +heights, has a wondrous view, and the Smiley brothers, of "Lake Mohunk" +celebrity, have fine grounds and homes on Canon Crest, and are thinking +of building a hotel. + +The circuit of the "loop" reminds me of roving around upon the rim of a +very large and shallow spoon, tilted upward toward Mentone at the +smaller end. San Bernardino is 1075 feet above the sea, and Mentone 1640 +feet. At that point we have nearly climbed the foothills, and are very +close to the great mountains themselves. As we skim around upon the +upper side of the "loop," the long gradual slope from the foot of the +mountains to the stream at the centre of the valley seems an ideal +conformation for leading the irrigation streams from the mountains along +the rows of orange trees which will soon entirely cover this valley. + +Four miles from San Bernardino is the station of Arrowhead, from which +we have a near view of the peak of nature which gives the place its +name. It is a bare, gravelly tract on the side of the mountain, which, +in contrast with the chaparral about it, takes the shape of an Indian +arrowhead with a portion of the shaft attached. Covering a large area, +the arrowhead is a landmark for many miles around. I could not help +thinking that if a gang of Italian laborers were employed for a few days +sharpening the outline of the arrowhead by cutting away bushes along the +edge, and setting out others judiciously in the converted background, +the effect of this interesting natural phenomenon might be much +brightened. There are hot-springs at Arrowhead, and a hotel renders the +varied attractions of the place available. + +While we are kiting along let me tell you what I know about baskets +made by the Indian women of the Pacific Coast of now and long ago, the +last considered valuable and now commanding high prices. There are +several experts on this subject in Pasadena--Mrs. Lowe, ex-Mayor Lukens, +Mrs. Jeanne C. Carr, and Mrs. Belle Jewett, who has the most precious +collection of all. + +Mrs. Lowe has gathered together for her Basement Museum, which any State +would be proud to own, all that she could find of special interest +relative to the Indians of California--clothing, headdress, weapons, +medicine charms, money, beads, and of course many baskets, for baskets +are as indispensable to the Indian as the reindeer to the Esquimau. They +were used as cradles, caps for the head when carrying burdens, wardrobes +for garments not in use, granaries on roof, sifters for pounded meal, +for carrying water, and keeping it for use, for cooking, receptacles for +money, plaques to gamble on, and so on. And the basket plays an +important part in their legends and folk-lore. + +Mrs. Lowe determined to preserve these specimens, as tourists were +rapidly carrying away all they could find of such relics, and soon the +State would be without proofs to tell how the Indian of the past lived +and fed and fought, bought and sold, how he was dressed, and how he +amused himself. + +Mrs. Ellen B. Farr, an artist in Pasadena who is famous for her success +in painting the pepper tree and the big yellow poppy, with its reddish +orange line changing toward petal tips to pale lemon, has also devoted +her skill to pictures of such baskets grouped effectually--baskets now +scattered all over the world, each with its own history, its own +individuality, and no duplicate, for no two baskets are ever exactly +similar. + +The true way to obtain these baskets is, go a-hunting for them, not buy +them at stores. They are handed down for generations as heirlooms +originally, never intended for sale, and with the needles used in +weaving, made usually of a fine bone from a hawk's wing, and the +gambling dice, are the carefully concealed family treasures. But +sometimes by going yourself to see the aged squaws, or paying one who +is familiar with their ways to explore for you, you may get a rich +return. Baskets are of all sizes, from the little beauties no bigger +than a teacup, woven finely and adorned with beads and bits of dyed +feathers, to the granaries, or the storage baskets, holding half a ton, +nine feet and nine inches in circumference, three feet deep. Mrs. Jewett +showed me a photograph of one of this sort, in which she sat comfortably +seated with her six-foot son and his wife. This had been in use more +than fifty years, and was as fine as ever. Her one hundred and +twenty-eight baskets represent twenty-eight tribes. In regard to the +shapes and designs, the women seem to have copied straight from nature's +patterns, as seen in acorns, pine cones, seed vessels, etc., so they are +truly artists. + +Figures of men are sometimes woven in: those with heads on represent the +victorious warriors; those decapitated depict the braves vanquished by +the fighters of their special tribe. An open palm is sometimes seen; +this is an emblem of peace. + +Willow wands and stiff long-stemmed grasses are gathered and dried for +these baskets, then woven in coils and increased as they go on, as in a +crochet stitch. It often requires a deal of coaxing and good pay to +secure one of these highly prized "Coras." + +The women were as devoted to gambling as the men, and made flat trays +for this purpose. The dice were eight acorn shells, or half-walnut +shells, first daubed over inside with pitch, and then inlaid with little +shells which represented money. + +I saw a tray and dice purchased most adroitly from an excited gambling +party, who were at the time too much intoxicated to know exactly what +they were doing. After it had been paid for the owner was implored to +sit down and gamble himself, hoping in this way to win more money and +get back the board. It was hard to withstand their forcible appeals, but +the man ran away, and was obliged to hide all night for fear of assault. +Squaws would sometimes bet pieces of flesh from their arms when their +money was gone, and many of them have been seen with rows of scars on +their arms for this reason. No basket can be finished by an Indian woman +until she has ceased to bear children. Then her work is done. + +The Japanese are famous basket-makers, but they do not far excel the +best work found among these untutored workwomen. + +Most curious of all is the fact that a _savant_ connected with the +Smithsonian Institute was amazed when examining a "buck," or man's +plaque, to find it almost exactly like one he had brought from northern +India--similar in weaving, size, and shading. + +And a lady told me that she could make herself understood by those of a +certain tribe in Mexico by speaking to them in Sicilian. Which makes me +think of Joel Chandler Harris and his embarrassment, after publishing +his stories of "Uncle Remus," to receive letters from learned men at +home and abroad, inquiring how this legend that he had given was the +same as one in India, or Egypt, or Siam. + +The art of basketry is rapidly deteriorating, and will soon be lost +unless Indian children in the reservation are taught something of the +old skill by their grandmothers, before the few now living depart for +that happy, unmolested hunting-ground they like to believe in, where I +do hope they will find a land all their own. + +The Mexican drawn-work is seen everywhere for sale, and at moderate +prices--so moderate that any one is foolish to waste eyesight in +imitating it. Each stitch has a name, and is full of meaning to the +patient maker. + +One can easily spend a good deal for curios, such as plaques, cups, +vases, napkin-rings, plates and toothpicks of orange wood, bark +pin-cushions, cat's-eye pins, etchings of all the missions in India ink, +wild-flower, fern, and moss work, and, perhaps most popular of all, the +pictures on orange wood of the burro, the poppy, and pepper and oranges. +Or, if interested in natural history, you can secure a horned toad, a +centipede, or a tarantula, alive or dead, and "set up." + +A horned toad is more easy to care for than the average baby alligator +of Florida, and as a pet is not more exacting, as it can live six months +without eating. + +"Why do some women like horrible things for pets? + +"Mother Eve set the example, and ever since serpents have been in the +front rank of woman's eccentric loves. Cleopatra was fond of tigers and +ferocious beasts, but she turned at last to a snake as the most fitting +creature to do her bidding. + +"Centuries ago the queens of Egypt made pets of horned toads, and the +ugly little reptiles became things of state, and their lives more sacred +than the highest ministers to the court. Daughters of the Nile +worshipped crocodiles." + +A very intelligent man, who has every reason to speak with authority +about the tarantula as found in California, declares that it is not +dangerous. He says they live in ground that has not been disturbed by +the plough. Their hole in the ground is about three fourths of an inch +in diameter and twelve or fourteen inches deep, with only a web over the +top. Many tell us that the tarantula has a lid on the top of his house, +but this is incorrect, as that belongs to the trap-door spider. It is +sold, however, here as a tarantula's nest. This creature dislikes the +winter rains as much as the tourist does, and fills up the entrance of +the nest in October and November, not appearing until May. The greater +number are found on adobe and clay soil. Tarantulas never come out at +night; the male sometimes appears just before sundown, but the female is +seldom seen away from home unless disturbed. They seem to have a model +family life. Mr. Wakely, who has caught more of these spiders than any +living man, does not seem to dread the job in the least. One man goes +ahead and places a small red flag at the opening of the nest; the next +man pours down a little water, which brings Mr. T---- up to see what is +the matter, and then Mr. W---- quietly secures it with a pair of pincers +and puts it in a bottle, and has thus succeeded in catching hundreds, +but has never had a bite. (This last line reminds me of the amateur +angler.) He tells me that there seems to be a general impression that a +tarantula will jump into the second-story window of a house, and, +springing upon the neck of a young lady sitting there, will kill her +instantly. He has never seen one jump three inches. If one leg is broken +off nature soon provides another. The Texas variety is believed to be +more dangerous. I do not know. + +There are rattlesnakes to be seen and heard about the mountains in hot +weather. + +As to buying precious stones, especially opals, in this part of the +country, I think it is wisest to buy opals in the real old Mexico for +yourselves, often very cheaply. The prices rise rapidly here. A water +opal, however beautiful, has no commercial value. It is but an +imprisoned soap-bubble, and is apt to crumble. There are stores where +pretty colored stones can be bought, but the majority get cheated as to +price. + +But we are not paying proper attention to the "panorama." Many have been +led to settle here by taking this picturesque trip; and with plenty of +water oranges pay splendidly. So there is substantial wealth, ever on +the increase, in these new towns. + +By the way, were you ever asked to be a "panorama"? I once had that +honor. A lady came to my house one Sunday morning, and explained that +her husband was dreadfully depressed over a fall in stocks or something, +and she knew I could be "so amusing" if I chose, and wouldn't I get into +her carriage and go with her to amuse said husband, and be a sort of +panorama for the poor man? "I don't want him to be in the panorama," she +said, "nor of the panorama; I want you just to be the panorama by +yourself." I was forced to decline this singular appeal, glad as I +should have been to cheer her dumpy spouse. + +Why, oh why is it, that if persons have the slightest power of being +what is vaguely called "entertaining," they are expected to be ever on +duty at the call of any one who feels a desire for inexpensive +diversion? + +At one hotel I sat by the side of an odd old man, a retired tobacco +merchant of great wealth, who was ready for conversation with all +newcomers, and who seemed to feel that I was not doing my full share as +an entertainer for the masses. He also had the unusual habit of +speaking his thoughts aloud, whether complimentary or otherwise, in +frank soliloquy, like that absent-minded Lord Dudley whom Sydney Smith +alludes to, as meeting and greeting him with effusive cordiality, and +then saying, _sotto voce_, "I suppose I shall have to ask this man home +to dinner." + +But my friend at my elbow had very little of the _sotto_ in his _voce_. +He began in this way: + +"Ahem! I hear you can be funny." No response from person addressed. Then +to himself: "I don't much believe she can do anything--don't look like +it." To me: "Well, now, if you _can_ be funny, why don't you?" I could +not help laughing then. "Yes, if you can, you ought to go into the +parlor every night and show what you can do, and amuse us. It is your +duty. Why, I told Quilletts--you know 'bout Quilletts? awfully funny +feller; good company, you see--says I, 'Quilletts, I like you. Now, if +you'll stay I'll give you a cottage, rent free, all summer (I've got an +island home--lots of us fellers on it--great times we have); but you +must agree to be funny every night, and keep the ball a-rollin'.' Now +we want you to get up and do something to entertain the guests. We want +to be amused--somethin' that will set us laughin'!" + +I replied: "Mr. Brushwood, I understand you are a dealer in tobacco?" + +"Yes, mum; and you won't find finer tobacker anywhere in this world than +what's got my name on it. Here's a picture of my store. Why, Brushwood's +tobacker is known all over the United States." + +"Yes? Well, when I notice you freely distributing that tobacco, bunches +of your choicest brands, papers of the very best for chewing, cigarettes +by the dozen, in the parlor evenings, I'll follow on just behind you, +and try to amuse as a condensed circus. I'm not lacking in philanthropy. +I only need to be roused by your noble example, sustained by your +influence." + +Brushwood looked disgusted, grunted his disapproval, backed his chair +out from the table, and as he walked to the door of the dining-room many +heard him mutter, "She's a queer dick; don't amount to much, anyway; +thought so when I first saw her; impudent, too!" + +As the farmer remarked when he first encountered a sportsman dude, "What +things a feller does meet when he hasn't got his gun!" + +But the train is slowing up, and see, Judge Brown, my old friend of The +Anchorage, is looking for us. No! No "Glenwood"; no "Arlington"; no +"kerridge"! + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +RIVERSIDE. + + + "Knowest thou the land where the lemon trees bloom, + Where the golden orange grows in the deep thickets' gloom, + Where a wind ever soft from the blue heavens blows, + And the groves are of laurel and myrtle and rose?" + +Yes, that describes Riverside, and reads like a prophecy. If Pasadena is +a big garden with pretty homes scattered all through its shade and +flowers, then Riverside is an immense orange grove, having one city-like +street, with substantial business blocks and excellent stores, two +banks, one in the Evans block, especially fine in all its architecture +and arrangements, and the rest is devoted by the land-owners to raising +oranges and making them pay. You will see flowers enough to overwhelm a +Broadway florist, every sort of cereal, every fruit that grows, in prime +condition for the table ten months out of the twelve. Three hundred +sunny days are claimed here out of the three hundred and sixty-five. +They are once in a while bothered by a frost, but that is "unusual." +Before 1870 this was a dusty desert of decomposed granite. What has +caused the change? Scientific irrigation and plenty of it. Or, as Grant +Allen puts it, "mud." He says: "Mud is the most valuable material in the +world. It is by mud we live; without it we should die. Mud is filling up +the lakes. Mud created Egypt, and mud created Lombardy." + +Yes, one can get rich here by turning dust into mud. It is said to be +the richest town "per capita" in all California of the same size, $1100 +being the average allowance for each person. This is solemnly vouched +for by reliable citizens. And they have no destitute poor--a remarkable +record. The city and district are said to enjoy an annual income of +$1,500,000 from the fruit alone, and there is a million of unused money +in the two banks. + +Irrigation is better than rain, for the orange growers can turn on a +shower or a stream whenever and wherever needed. It requires courage +and faith to go straight into a desert with frowning mountains, big, +little, and middle-sized, all about, and not an available drop of water, +and say, "I'm going to settle right here and turn this desert into a +beautiful home, and start a prosperous, wealthy city. All that this +rocky, barren plain needs is water and careful cultivation, and I will +give it both." That was Judge Brown's decision, and the result shows his +wisdom. No one agreed with him; it was declared that colonists could not +be induced to try it. But he could not relinquish the idea. He was +charmed by the dry, balmy air, so different from Los Angeles. He saw the +smooth plain was well adapted for irrigation, and Santa Ana could be +made to furnish all the water needed. So that it is really to him we owe +the pleasure of seeing these orchards, vineyards, avenues, and homes. +Where once the coyote and jack-rabbit had full sway, land now sells at +prices from $400 to $3000 per acre. There are no fences--at least, there +is but one in all Riverside. You see everywhere fine, well-trimmed +cypress hedges with trees occasionally cut in fantastic, elaborate +designs. There are many century plants about the grounds; they blossom +in this climate after twelve years, and die after the tall homely flower +has come to maturity. The roadsides have pretty flowers planted all +along, giving a gay look, and the very weeds just now are covered with +blossoms. Irrigation is carried on most scientifically, the water coming +from a creek and the "cienaga," which I will explain later. There are +several handsome avenues shaded with peppers, and hedges twenty feet +high, through which are obtained peeps at enchanting homes; but the +celebrated drive which all tourists are expected to take is that to and +fro through Magnolia Avenue, twelve miles long. The name now seems illy +chosen, as only a few magnolia trees were originally planted at each +corner, and these have mostly died, so that the whole effect is more +eucalyptical, palmy, and pepperaneous than it is magnolious. People come +here "by chance the usual way," and buy because they see the chance to +make money. You are told pretty big stories of successes; the failures +are not alluded to. + +I saw a large and prosperous place belonging to a woman of business +ability, who came out all alone, took up a government grant, ploughed +and planted and irrigated, sent for a sister to help her, sold land at +great prices, and is now a wealthy woman. If I had not passed through +such depressing and enthusiasm-subduing experiences as an agriculturist +in the East I might be tempted here. I did look with interest at the +ostrich farms, and had visions of great profits from feathers, eggs, and +egg-shells. But it takes a small fortune to get started in that +business, as eggs are twenty dollars each, and the birds are sometimes +five hundred dollars apiece. And they are subject to rheumatism and a +dozen other diseases, and a blow from a kicking bird will kill one. I +concluded to let that dream be unrealized. Did you ever hear of the +nervous invalid who was told by his physician to buy a Barbary ostrich +and imitate him exactly for three months? It was a capital story. The +lazy dyspeptic was completely cured. As a hen woman I will remark _en +passant_ that it is hard to raise poultry in this part of California. +The climate is too exhilarating, and if the head of each chicken does +not get a drop of oil at once it dies of brain disease. + +Corn does not thrive. Mr. Brown at first put down ten acres to corn. It +looked promising, but grew all to stalk. These stalks were over twelve +feet high, but corn was of no value, so he sold the stalks for eighty +dollars, and started his oranges. + +The English are largely interested here, and have invested two or three +millions, which will pay large interest to their grandchildren. Their +long avenue is loyally named "Victoria." A thrifty Canadian crazed by +the "boom," the queerest mental epidemic or delusion that ever took hold +of sensible people, bought some stony land just under Rubidoux Mountain +for $4000. It was possibly worth $100, but in those delirious days many +did much worse. It is amazing to see what hard work and water and good +taste will do for such a place. He has blasted the rocks, made fountains +and cisterns, planted several acres of strawberries, set out hundreds +of orange trees, has a beautiful garden, two pretty cottages, and some +day he will get back his original price for a building site, for the +view is grand. + +Riverside, while leading the orange-producing section of Southern +California, is not exactly the location which would have been selected +by the original settlers had they possessed the experience of the +producers of today. The oranges do not have to be washed, as in some +other places; they are not injured by smut or scale; the groves are +faultless in size of trees, shape, and taste of fruit. One orange +presented to me weighed thirty-one ounces. But the growers, having lost +$1,000,000 by Jack Frost several years ago, are obliged now to resort to +the use of lighted tar-pots on cold nights to make a dense smudge to +keep the temperature above the danger line. One man uses petroleum in +hundred-gallon casks, one for each acre, from which two pipes run along +between the rows of trees, with half a dozen elbows twenty feet apart, +over which are flat sheet-iron pans, into which the oil spatters as it +vaporizes. An intensely hot flame keeps off the frost. This I do not +hear spoken of at Riverside; you must go to a rival for any disagreeable +information. At Pasadena their severe winds are called "Riversiders"; at +Anaheim they are "Santa Anas"; and friends write me from damp Los +Angeles to the dry air of Riverside, "How can you stay in that 'damp' +place?" The inhabitants of Riverside do not concede that Pasadena is a +place for orange growers. At Redlands, luckily above frost terrors, the +terrible losses at Riverside from that trouble are profusely narrated. +San Diego gets its share of humorous belittlement from all. You hear the +story quoted of the shrewd Chinee who went to that city to look for +business, where one hears much of future developments, but did not +settle, saying, "It has too muchee bym-bye." Friends, and especially +hotel proprietors, exclaim in disgusted astonishment, "What! going to +Riverside? Why, there's nothing there but oranges." + +I find more: fine and charming drives, scenery that differs from that +of Pasadena, "that poem of nature set to music beneath the swaying +rhythm of the pine forests of the lofty Sierra Madres," but is equally +enjoyable and admirable. + +Still, above all, and permeating every other interest, is the _orange_. +As to dampness, a physician threatened with consumption, and naturally +desirous of finding the driest air, began while at Coronado Beach a +simple but sure test for comparative degrees of "humidity" by just +hanging a woolen stocking out of his window at night. At that place it +was wet all through, quite moist at Los Angeles, very much less so at +Pasadena, dry as a bone or red herring or an old-fashioned sermon at +Riverside. Stockings will tell! (From April to September is really the +best time to visit Coronado.) I experienced a very sudden change from a +warm, delightful morning to an afternoon so penetrating by cold that I +really suffered during a drive, although encased in the heaviest of +Jaeger flannels, a woolen dress, and a heavy wrap. I thought of the +rough buffalo coat my uncle, a doctor, used to put on when called out +on a winter night in New Hampshire, and wished I was enveloped in +something like it, with a heated freestone, for feet and a hot potato +for each hand. If I can make my readers understand that these sudden +changes make flannels necessary, and that one needs to be as careful +here as in Canada as regards catching cold from night air and these +unexpected rigors, I shall feel, as the old writers used to say, "that I +have not written entirely in vain." + +In one day you can sit under the trees in a thin dress and be too warm +if the sun is at its best, and then be half frozen two hours later if +the wind is in earnest and the sun has retired. In the sun, Paradise; in +shade, protect yourself! + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +A LESSON ON THE TRAIN. + +"The Schoolmistress Abroad." + + +All through Southern California I hear words of whose meaning I have no +idea until they are explained. For instance, a friend wrote from San +Diego in February: "Do not longer delay your coming; the mesas are +already bright with wild-flowers." A mesa is a plateau, or upland, or +high plain. And then there are fifty words in common use retained from +the Spanish rule that really need a glossary. As, arroyo, a brook or +creek; and arroyo seco, a dry creek or bed of extinct river. + +Alameda, an avenue. + +Alamitos, little cotton-wood. + +Alamo, the cotton-wood; in Spain, the poplar. + +Alma, soul. + +That is all I have learned in A's. Then for B's. + +I asked at Riverside what name they had for a big, big rock that rose +right out of the plain, and was told it was a "butte." That gave a +meaning to Butte City, and was another lesson. + +Banos means baths, and barranca is a small ravine. + +Then, if we go on alphabetically, cajon, pronounced _cahone_, is a box. + +Calaveras, skull. + +Campo, plain. + +Cienaga, a marshy place. + +Campo sancto, cemetery. + +Canyon or canon, gulch. + +Cruz, cross. + +Colorado, red. + +Some of the Spanish words are so musical it is a pleasure to repeat them +aloud; as: + +Ensenada, bright. + +Escondido, hidden. + +Fresno means ash. + +I inquired the meaning of "Los Gatos," and was kindly informed it was +"The Gates," but it really is "The Cats." + +Goleta, the name of another town, means schooner. + +The Spanish _j_ nearly always has the sound of _h_. + +Jacinto, Hyacinth. + +Jose, Joseph. + +Lago is lake; pond, laguna; and for a little lake the pretty name +lagunita. "Lagunita Rancho" is the name of an immense fruit ranch in +Vacaville--and, by the way, vaca is cow. + +Madre is mother; nevada, snowy. + +San Luis Obispo is San Luis the Bishop. + +El Paso is The Pass. + +Pueblo, a town. + +Pinola is parched corn ground fine between stones, eaten with milk. + +Pinoche, chopped English walnuts cooked in brown sugar--a nice candy. + +Rancho, a farm; and rio, river. + +Everything is a ranch out here; the word in the minds of many stands +for home. A little four-year-old boy was overheard praying the other day +that when he died the Lord would take him to His ranch. + +Sacramento is the sacrament. + +Sierra, saw-toothed; an earthquake is a temblor. + +San and Santa, the masculine and feminine form of saint. + +As the men who laid out a part of New York evidently travelled with a +classical dictionary, and named the towns from that, as Rome, Syracuse, +Palmyra, Utica, so the devout Spanish explorer named the places where he +halted by the name of the saint whose name was on the church calendar +for that day. And we have San Diego (St. James), San Juan (St. John), +San Luis, San Jose, San Pedro, Santa Inez, Santa Maria, Santa Clara, +and, best of all, Santa Barbara, to which town we are now going. + +The Mexican dialect furnishes words which are now permanently +incorporated in our common speech; as: + +Adobe, sun-dried brick. + +Canon, gorge. + +Tules, rush or water-weed. (Bret Harte's _Apostle of the Tules_.) + +Bonanza, originally _fair weather at sea_, now _good fortune in mining_. + +Fandango, dance of the people. + +Corral, a place to collect stock. (A farmer of the West never says +cow-pen, or barnyard, or farmyard, but corral.) + +Cascarones, egg-shells filled with finely cut gold or silver paper, or +perfumes, broken on head of young man, in friendly banter or challenge +to a dance. + +Burro, small kind of donkey. + +Broncho, wild, untamed animal. + +Sombrero, hat. + +Rebozo, scarf. + +Serape, blanket. + +Lariat, rawhide rope. + +Hacienda, estate. + +While we are rattling along there is so little to see until we reach +the ocean, that we may as well be recalling a few more facts worth +knowing. At Riverside I learned that the leaf of the orange tree was +larger when it first came out than later. It grows smaller as it +matures. And most people say that the fig tree has no blossom, the fruit +coming right out of the branch. But there is a blossom, and you have to +cut the fruit open to find it. Just split a young fig in two and notice +the perfect blossom in the centre. + +They say it takes two Eastern men to believe a Californian, but it only +takes one Eastern woman to tell true stories which do seem almost too +big for belief. One man got lost in a mustard field, and he was on +horseback too. + +I saw at San Diego a tomato vine only eight months old, which was +nineteen feet high and twenty-five feet wide, and loaded full of fruit +in January. A man picking the tomatoes on a stepladder added to the +effect. And a Gold of Ophir rose-bush at Pasadena which had 200,000 +blossoms. This is vouched for by its owner, a retired missionary, who +cannot be doubted. There are truly true pumpkins that weigh 256 pounds +and are seven feet in circumference; cucumbers seven feet long; seven +beets weighed 500 pounds; three bites to a strawberry; and the +eucalyptus shoots often grow twenty feet the first year, carrying with +them in their rapid ascension the stakes to which they were tied. All +this is true. But here are two stories which may be doubtful, just to +show what anecdotes are current in California. "A man was on top of a +California pumpkin chopping off a piece with an axe, when it dropped in. +He pulled up his ladder and put it down on the inside to look for it. +While groping about he met a man, who exclaimed, 'Hello! What are you +doing here?' 'Looking for my axe.' 'Gosh! you might as well give that +up. I lost my horse and cart in here three days ago, and haven't found +'em yet!'" + +"A farmer raised one thousand bushels of popcorn and stored it in a +barn. The barn caught fire, and the corn began to pop and filled a +ten-acre field. An old mare in a neighboring pasture had defective +eyesight, saw the corn, thought it was snow, and lay down and froze to +death." + +As to serious farming, and how it pays in this part of the State, I have +clipped several paragraphs from the papers, and will give three as +samples of the whole. I desire also to communicate the cheerful news +that there are no potato bugs to make life seem too hard to bear. + + +"RAISED ON TWENTY ACRES. + +"How much land do I need in California? is a question often asked. The +answer is readily made: as much as you can profitably and economically +work. A gentleman has made the following exhibit in the Los Angeles +Chamber of Commerce: 'Raised on twenty acres of ground, 2500 boxes of +oranges, 1500 boxes of lemons, 37,000 pounds of grapes, 2000 pounds of +pears, 35,000 pounds of apples, 15,000 pounds of berries, black and red, +1000 pounds of English walnuts. Besides nectarines, apricots, plums, +three crops of potatoes, 500 pounds of crab-apples, and one acre of +alfalfa kept for cows, and flowers of different varieties. These +oranges are worth on the trees $3500, the lemons $3000, the grapes $370, +pears $30, apples $75, berries $30, walnuts $80. The total will be +$7085, and all the products not counted. That surely is more than the +crops of a half section in Kansas or Illinois will sell for.' Every one +may not do as well, but they can approach it, and if they do, twenty +acres is quite enough." + + +"PROFITS OF BERRY CULTURE. + +"Speaking of the profits of growing strawberries in Southern California, +the Covina _Argus_ gives some interesting facts and figures. That paper +says: 'One of the growers stated to us that last year he picked and +shipped from three acres the enormous amount of fourteen tons. These +berries brought as high as fifteen cents and as low as four cents per +pound, but netted an average of about eight cents per pound, or $2240. +That would make an acre of berries produce a cash return of $746.66 2/3, +which, considering the shortness of the berry season, from four to five +months, is a pretty good income on the money invested.'" + + +"PROFIT IN ALMONDS. + +"M. Treat, an authority on almond culture, has contributed the following +to the Woodland _Mail_: 'This year from 190 California paper-shell +almond trees (five years old), covering two and five-sevenths acres, I +gathered 3502 pounds of nuts, which sold in Chicago at twenty-two cents +a pound. This is $316.82 to the acre--a little over $4 to the tree--181/2 +pounds to the tree. When these same trees were four years old they +averaged about three pounds, and in eight years they will double what +they bore at five. They will at eight years bear full 40 pounds to the +tree. At twelve years they will bear fully 100 pounds to the tree +without the least exertion. This is at seventy trees to the acre, and +reckoning at twenty-two cents to the pound, $1540 per acre. Now these +are nothing but plain, bare, raw facts. + +"'Almond trees live and do well for fifty years, and in some places in +Europe when fifteen years old bear from 150 to 200 pounds per tree.'" + + +At Saugus Junction Mr. Tolfree has established one of his famous +restaurants, where I can conscientiously urge you to get out and dine. +Every course is delicious. + +Ventura County is partially devoted to the culture of Beans. I use a +capital because Beans represent Culture, or are associated with it in +one State at least, and the very meaning of the word is property, money, +from the French _biens_--goods. I wonder how many of my Boston friends +knew that! I did not until a friend showed it to me in Brewer's +phrase-book, where I also learned that beans played an important part in +the politics of the Greeks, being used in voting by ballot. I always had +a liking for beans, but I have a profound respect for them since viewing +the largest Lima Bean Ranch in the world, belonging to my friend Mr. +D. W. Thompson, of Santa Barbara. There are 2500 acres of rich land, +level as a house floor, bounded by a line of trees on one side and the +ocean on the other; 1600 acres are planted to beans, and the profits +are nearly $60,000 yearly. Thirty-six tons of beans were used this year +in planting. This could not be done in the East, but beans do not need +to be "poled" here, as, influenced by the dreamy atmosphere, they show +no desire to climb, but just lie lazily along the ground. Still, there +is a deal of work connected with the business. Dairying, building, +horseshoeing, repairing of machinery, are all done on the place. "As +soon as the spring rains are over, eleven gang ploughs, four ploughs to +a gang, each gang drawn by six horses, plough about seven acres per +day." Then the harrowing and planting in the same big way. During the +entire summer these vines grow without a drop of water, freshened daily +by the heavy sea fogs. Harvesting and threshing all done by machinery. +The steam thresher would amaze some of our overworked, land-poor +farmers. About one hundred and twenty carloads of beans are annually +shipped from this ranch, reserving the tons needed for seed. + +And all along the way fine ranches are seen, where beans are seen +growing alone, or planted between the long even rows of fruit trees. Mr. +Thompson also owns a large hog ranch. But dear me! We are now skirting +the beautiful ocean curve which leads to the "Channel City"--so near the +beach that the waves almost touch the rails and the dash of the surf +seems under the cars. See how fine a situation! The coast line taking a +sudden and most fortunate turn, the trend of mountain range and plain +land is east and west, instead of north and south. Sheltered by +mountains and mesas, and nestled in the green foot-hills, with the ocean +breeze tempered by a chain of islands, making a serene harbor, Santa +Barbara has much to make it the rival of San Diego and Pasadena. Pork +and beans must now give way to legend and romance, martyred virgin, holy +monks, untutored "neophytes," handsome Castilians, dashing Mexicans, +energetic pioneers, the old Spanish, the imported Chinese, the eastern +element now thoroughly at home, and the inevitable, ubiquitous invalid, +globe-trotter, and hotel habitue--each type or stratum as distinctly +marked as in a pousse cafe, or jelly cake. What a comparison! I ask +Santa Barbara's pardon, and beg not to be struck with lightning, or +destroyed by gunpowder.--"_Yes, to the Arlington._" + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +SANTA BARBARA. + + + "Saints will aid if men will call, + For the blue sky bends o'er all." + +Sweet sixteen and an "awful dad." Santa Barbara and Dioscurus. Such a +cruel story, and so varied in version that the student of sacred legend +gets decidedly puzzled. The fair-haired daughter was advised secretly by +Origen, who sent a pupil disguised as a physician to instruct her in the +Christian faith. She insisted on putting three windows instead of two +into the bathroom of the tower to which her father sent her, either to +prevent her from marrying or to imprison her until she would wed one of +the many gay young suitors. These three windows showed her belief in the +Trinity, which she could not have learned from Origen, as among +Christians he was regarded as heretical, and his followers were +Unitarians and Universalists combined, adding the cheerful theory of the +"second opportunity" and that all punishment from sin would have an end, +yet clinging to the old pagan mythology and believing that sun, moon, +stars, and the ocean all had souls--a "Neo-Platonist." + +Refusing to recant, Barbara was arraigned and condemned to death. Her +energetic paternal evidently had heard the maxim, "If you want anything +done, do it yourself." His heavy blows fell soft as feathers. She seemed +in sweet slumber. So he drew his sword, cut off her head, and was +instantly killed by lightning from Heaven. Thus ends the history of two +"Early Fathers." + +But sweet St. Barbara will never be forgotten. She is the patroness of +artillery soldiers, and protects from lightning and sudden death. In the +many pictures where she appears she carries a feather, or the martyr's +sword and palm, or a book; and the three windows are often seen. She is +the only Santa who bears the cup and wafer. + +The appreciative Spaniards honored her memory by bestowing her pretty +name on the choicest spot of the coast, a belt of land seventy miles +long and thirty-five wide, from Point Concepcion to Buena Ventura. No +one can dare to doubt this tragic tale, for Barbara's head may still be +seen preserved as a relic in the temple of All Saints at Rome. I do not +want to be too severe in my estimate of the Roman noble, Dioscurus. An +old lady who never spoke ill of any one, when called upon to say +something good of the devil, said, "We might all imitate his +persistence;" and this impulsive demon was certainly a creature who, if +he had an unpleasant duty confronting him, attended to it himself. + +The first navigator who landed on the coast of Santa Barbara, or on one +of the four islands, was Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, in 1542. He is buried +on San Miguel (pronounced _Magell_). The Indians (and the entire Indian +population at that time amounted to 22,000) were exceedingly glad to +welcome the strangers, much better behaved than those found at San +Diego, who stripped the clothing from those too ill to defend +themselves. Perhaps a reason for this superiority may be found in the +fact that these tribes were entirely naked, and had no desire for any +conventional covering. They serenaded their new friends so loudly that +sleep or rest was impossible, and offered their most delicious food and +free use of canoes. They ate seeds, fruit, fish, locusts; hunted rabbit, +hare, and deer; dried the meat of the latter on trees; placed acorns in +a sieve basket, rinsed and boiled them. As every race is unhappy without +an intoxicating drink and something to chew or smoke, they extracted a +bitter beverage from a certain seed, and used a root in place of +tobacco. + +These Channel Indians let their hair grow so long that they could make +braids and fasten them round the face with stone rings. The visitors +spoke of the "Island of the Bearded People." They had substantial brush +huts, supported by pillars bearing inscriptions supposed to allude to +their religion, and they enjoyed dancing to the music of bone flutes. +For gifts, they most desired red calico and chocolate. + +Cabrillo's men found a primitive temple on one of the islands, and in it +an unknown god or idol. One of the eight original tribes had a form of +worship strongly resembling a Turkish bath. The men sat round a hot fire +until drenched in perspiration; then plunged into a pool of cold water. +The women were not permitted to be devout in this "cleanliness next to +godliness" manner. It was a luxury and prerogative the noble braves +wanted entirely for themselves. (We see something similar in our own +progressive, enlightened churches, where women are expected to provide +and pack clothing for missionary boxes, attend unfailingly on the stated +means of grace, visit and nurse the sick and poor members, deny +themselves for charity, listen reverently to stupid discourses on the +unknown, delivered with profound certainty that approaches omniscience, +but are not allowed to "speak out in meetin'," or to have the honor of +being represented by women delegates at denominational conventions, or +clubs and councils. They are to lead heavenward, but earthly pleasures +and honors are strictly "reserved"! About the same, isn't it?) + +When Father Junipero Sena reached Santa Barbara on his mission-starting +pilgrimage, he sent for Mexican artisans, who taught his converts all +the industrial arts. They were taught to support themselves, then a +piece of ground was parcelled out to each, with a yoke of oxen and +farming utensils. Serra formed eleven missions; ten were added later. He +built the great aqueduct which is still used in Santa Barbara. All honor +to his memory! "There lingers around Santa Barbara more of the aroma and +romance of a bygone civilization, when the worthy Padres set an example +of practical Christianity to the Indian aborigines that we would do well +to emulate, than is found elsewhere in the State." + +In the good old days a person could travel from San Diego to San +Francisco and not expend one shilling. The Mission Fathers would furnish +saddle, horse, or a comfortable bed, meals, and the Spanish host would +leave in the guest-chamber a small heap of silver covered by a cloth, +and the stranger, if needy, was expected to take some of it to supply +his wants. + +Would you like to see a specimen of the Indian dialect used by the +"Bearded People"? I can count to five in the Siujtu language--or, at +least, I don't care to go much further: paca, sco, masa, scu, itapaca; +twenty is sco-quealisco; and to-morrow, huanahuit. + +The islands are now only occupied by flocks of sheep, sheared twice a +year, and paying their owners a good profit; $100,000 one year from +Santa Rosa alone. The wool gets full of seed, and it is not the finest +quality, but this is counterbalanced by the quantity. + +Many large abalone shells are found on San Miguel. They are pried off +with a crow-bar, the shells are polished for sale, made into buttons, +etc., and the meat is dried and sent to China, where it is ground and +made into soup. It has been used here, and pronounced by some to be +equal to terrapin, and by others to closely resemble leather. + +These islands are always a delight to look upon. As the state of the +atmosphere varies they seem near or far away, clearly defined, or with a +hazy outline. But in sunlight or shadow, mist or mirage, they are ever +beautiful. Within the peaceful channel ships are safe while a wind storm +rages just beyond. The government sends big war-ships here for a trial +of speed. None of these islands are now desirable for residence. There +is no natural supply of fresh water, and the sheep rely on the moisture +left by the heavy fogs, and on a certain plant which holds water in its +cup-like blossom. I hear that at Catalina the goats, deprived of their +natural pabulum of hoop-skirts, tomato cans, and old shoes, feed on +clover and drink the dew. + +That's what this climate does for a goat. I do not dare to make many +statements in regard to novelties in natural history since one poor +woman poetized upon the coyote "howling" in the desert, and roused +hundreds of critics to deny that coyotes ever howled. And a scientific +student came to Santa Barbara not so long ago, and found on one of these +islands a species of tailless fox, and hastened to communicate the +interesting anomaly to the Smithsonian Institute. It seems that the +otter hunters trapped these foxes for their tails, then let them go. + +If it were not for these blunders I would state that roosters seem to +keep awake most of the night in Southern California, and can be heard +crowing at most irregular hours. Considering the risks, I refrain. + +The islands were named by a pious priest, who made the map; and those we +see in looking out from Santa Barbara are San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa +Cruz, Ana, Capa. San Nicholas Island is interesting as having been the +abode for sixteen years of a solitary Indian woman, a feminine Robinson +Crusoe, without even a Friday, who was left by mistake when the rest of +the Indians were carried away by order of the Mission Fathers. Two of +the men who at last succeeded in finding her gave their testimony, which +has been preserved; and one of them, Charlie Brown, is still alive, and +likes to tell the strange story. It seems she had run back to get her +child, and the ship went off without her. Nidever tells his story in +this way: + +"We scattered off two or three hundred yards apart. She had a little +house made of brush and had a fire; she was sitting by the fire with a +little knife; she was working with it. She had a bone; all came up and +looked at her; she had a heap of roots--that is what she lived on--and +had little sacks to carry them in. As soon as we sat down she put a lump +of them to roast on the fire. Finally we got ready to go, and we made +signs for her to come with us. She understood the signs for her to come +with us; she picked up her things to take them on board." + +She had a dress made of duck skins, sewed together with the sinews of a +seal, with needles made of bone--an eye drilled through. This dress the +priests sent to Rome. + +The demijohn in which she carried water was made out of rushes and +stopped with asphaltum. She was making one of these water bottles. She +heated small round stones in the fire and put them in the asphaltum, and +then lined the bottle, making it tight. She had no matches, of course, +nor even a tinder-box, but started fire by rubbing two sticks together. + +She said her child was eaten up by wolves. None of the Indians +understood her dialect; finally one woman was found who could talk to +her a little, who had been raised on the same island. The woman was +found in 1853. She seemed happy and contented, and would go round to +different houses and dance the Indian dances. She was a great curiosity; +twenty or thirty would go along with her. Many who were sailing by would +stop just to see her. + +The other hunters had noticed small human tracks, but never could see +any one. At last several men were scattered all over the island, and +Charlie Brown was the first to discover her. He thought at first it was +only a black crow sitting on a whalebone. I give his version, as his +language is far more picturesque and vivid than my paraphrase would be. +He says: + +"She had built a brush fence about two feet high to break the wind. The +sun was coming in her face. She was skinning a seal. The dog when he +noticed me he began to growl. I thought if she should run. I stepped +right round her, and she bowed as if she knew me before, and when the +Indians came up they all kneeled down, and when she saw there was some +of her color, she held out some of her food and offered all some. + +"I took her by the shoulder, and I said, '_Varmoose_,' and she +understood at once. I took everything she had, and she took a big seal +head in basket. We all had something to carry. Then she had a little +brand of fire, and she took that away and wobbled along with a strange +kind of a step like until we came to a watering-place about fifty feet +down the bank, and they all went down there and she went too, and she +sat down there and we watched to see what she would do, and she washed +herself over; her hair was all rotting away, a kind of bleached by the +sun, and we got to the vessel and she kneeled down, and we had a stove +right on deck and she crawled to the stove and we gave her a piece of +biscuit and she ate like a good fellow. It came on to blow; old man +Nidever had some bed-ticking. I made her a dress, and gave her a man's +shirt. She was tickled to death. If I was where she was she would hold +up her dress and point that I made it." + +He was asked how she happened to be left, repeated Nidever's story, and +added: "She found they were all gone, and commenced to hollo. No answer, +and hunted round and saw the tracks and found they went to lower part of +the island. When she got there found the vessel going away, and she +called, 'Mancyavina,' but it never came. She put her head on the ground +and laid on the ground and cried, and they never came. + +"The priest here had all the Indians in Santa Barbara and Santa Inez to +see if they understood her. They could understand some words, but not +all. She got baptized, and they made her a Christian and everything. A +steamer came up from below; the captain offered to take her up and show +her, but old man Nidever would not agree. She died; they gave her green +corn and melons, and they were too much for her. She made knives of +bone and wood, and had pointed nails for catching fish. She had ropes +nicely twisted with sinews, twisted as true as any rope-maker could +make, and had bottles made of grass, and dishes of wood with handles; +she put the feathers next her skin to keep warm." + +I will only add that wild dogs were numerous, and she tamed them for +friends. The priests called her Juana Maria, and I think the name of the +island should be changed in her honor. I doubt if Santa Barbara herself +could have done as well under similar circumstances. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +HER CITY AND COUNTY. + + + "Syrian apples, Othmanee quinces, + Limes and citrons and apricots, + And wines that are known to Eastern princes." + +In walking through the streets of Santa Barbara you may still see the +various types, but not so clearly defined as of old. Holy Fathers still +intone the service within the massive mission walls; they still +cultivate the large garden, from which woman is sedulously excluded. But +the faces are German and Irish. At a street corner two men are talking +earnestly, and as you pass you get a glance from Mexican eyes, dark and +soft, but the hair shows Indian blood. A real old Mexican vaquero rides +by in the genuine outfit, well worn and showing long use; next a +carriage full of fashionable visitors; then a queerer combination than +the Anglomaniac with his trousers legs turned up if the cable reports a +rainy day in London. This is the American vaquero--usually a short, fat +man with dumpy legs, who dons a flapping sombrero, buys a new Mexican +saddle, wooden stirrups, and leather riata, sometimes adding a coil of +rope at left side, wears the botas with a corduroy suit at dinner at +hotel, and doesn't know at all how comical an appearance he presents. +The very next to pass is one of the pioneers, who, although worth a +million or more, puts on no style, and surveys the mongrel in front with +a twinkle in his eye. Every one should own a horse or pony or burro +here, for the various drives are the greatest charm of the place. +Through all Southern California the happy children ride to school, where +the steeds, fastened to fence in front of building, wait patiently in +line, like Mary's lamb. But in Santa Barbara you see mere tots on +horseback, who look as if it were no new accomplishment. I believe the +mothers put them on gentle ponies to be cared for, or safe, as mothers +in general use the cradle or high-chair. One of the old Mexican +residents of Santa Barbara, when over eighty years of age, had the +misfortune to break his leg. He lay in bed uneasily until a surgeon +could be summoned and the fractured bones set and duly encased in +plaster. He then insisted on being carried out and placed upon his +favorite horse, where he sat during each day with patient serenity until +the damage was repaired by nature. + +The drives are all delightful. You cannot make a mistake; there are +twenty-eight drives distinct and beautiful. Those best known are, to the +Mission Canon, to the Lighthouse, to Montecito and Carpenteria, Cooper's +Ranch, through the far-famed Ojai Valley, and the stage or coaching trip +to San Luis Obispo, not forgetting La Vina Grande (the big grapevine), +the trunk eighteen inches in diameter, foliage covering 10,000 square +feet, producing in one year 12,000 pounds of grapes; and the Cathedral +Oaks. I jotted down a few facts at the Lighthouse _a la_ Jingle in +_Pickwick Papers_: gleaming white tower, black lantern, rising from neat +white cottage, green window-shutters, light 180 feet above sea-level, +fine view from balcony, fields of young barley down to water's edge, +bluest blue in sea and sky, the lamp holds only one quart of oil, +reflectors do big business, considering, throwing the light 417 miles. + +The keeper, a woman, has been there over thirty years, never goes away +for a single night, trim, quaint, and decided, doesn't want to be +written up, will oblige her, don't believe a woman ever did so much good +with a quart of kerosene daily before. Been a widow a long time, heard +of one woman, wife of lighthouse-keeper, he died, she too stout to be +gotten out of the one room, next incumbent married her. + +Montecito, as Roe described it, is a village of charming gardens and +green lawns, with a softer climate even than Santa Barbara--a most +desirable situation for an elegant country retreat. I had the privilege +of visiting the home of Mr. W. P. Gould, a former resident of Boston, +who has one of the most perfect places I have ever seen. He has been +experimenting this year with olive oil in one room of his large house +for curing lemons, and has perfected a machine which expresses the +"virgin oil" without cracking a single pit or stone. This is a great +improvement, as one crushed stone will give an acrid taste to a quart of +oil. There is a fashion in fruits as much as in bonnets or sleeves. +Olive culture is just now the fad. Pears, prunes, almonds, walnuts, have +each had their day, or their special boom. Pomona is headquarters for +the olive industry. Nursery men there sold over 500,000 trees last year. +The tree does not require the richest soil. Hon. Elwood Cooper's olive +oil is justly famous, but the machinery designed by Mr. Gould makes a +much purer oil, pronounced by connoisseurs to be the finest in the +world. The olives are sun-dried; the ponderous rollers and keen knives +of the masher mash the fruit, and every after-process is the perfection +of cleanliness and skill. There is a nutty sweetness about this oil, and +a clear amber color, which makes it most desirable for the fastidious +invalid. + +This new process has been purchased by a company who are going to try to +give the country what it has never known before--pure olive oil, free +from a bit of the stone. No pure oil is brought to our country. The +public think the price too high; they prefer to buy cotton-seed oil at +thirty-five cents a gallon, and this is adulterated with peanuts, +sunflowers, and so on. This will do for the masses, but the best is none +too good if it can be found. + +Few appreciate the medicinal value of olive oil. Nations making use +regularly of this and the fruit are freed from dyspepsia. A free use in +the United States would round out Brother Jonathan's angular spareness +of form, and make him less nervous and less like the typical Yankee of +whom the witty Grace Greenwood said: "He looks as if the Lord had made +him and then pinched him." One does not see the orange groves here, but +the lemon trees and walnuts and olives are an agreeable change--just for +a change. + +"Who ever thinks of connecting such a commonplace article of diet as the +lemon with the romantic history of ill-fated Anne Boleyn? Yet, +indirectly, she was the cause of its first introduction into England, +and so into popular notice. Henry VIII., who, if he rid himself of his +wives like a brute, certainly won them like a prince, gave such splendid +feasts and pageants in honor of the coronation of Anne and of their +previous nuptials as had seldom been accorded to queens of the royal +blood. These kingly entertainments were in turn followed by the great +civic feast of London, for which the whole world was searched for +delicacies to add to the splendor. At one such banquet, graced by the +presence of the royal pair, a lemon was introduced as an elegant +novelty. To an epicure such as Henry, the acquisition of a castle in +France would have proved less acceptable, and such was the importance +attached to the discovery--so says an old biographer--that a special +record was made of the fact that the cost of this precious lemon was six +silver pennies." + +We hear nothing of irrigation, but almost everything will thrive without +it. The soil grows well all varieties of fruits found in the Eastern and +New England States, besides all the semi-tropical fruits, as guavas, +loquats, persimmons, dates, etc. As the Rev. Mr. Jackson says: "Could +it be shown that the primitive Eden bore as many fruits pleasant to the +taste, it would add a new pang to the thought of original sin." + +The number of native trees seems small, but trees have been naturalized +here from every part of the world. The pepper tree is from Peru, also +the quinine tree: from Chili, the monkey tree and the Norfolk Island +pine. + +Mr. Cooper imported the eucalyptus from Australia. It grows rapidly, and +is planted for windbreaks. It is used for firewood, and when cut down +nearly to the ground will start up with the same old courage and +ambition. Its roots are so eager for water that they make long detours, +sometimes even climbing up and down a stone wall, if it is in their +route, or into a well. From the same country comes the acacia, the +rubber tree, and a large number of shrubs. New Zealand contributes her +share, and to China and Japan they are indebted for the camphor tree, +the gingko, the loquat, and the chestnuts. To South Africa they are +indebted for the silver tree, and from the northern part of that +country the date-palm and the tamarind. + +One sees side by side here, and in Pasadena, trees from almost opposite +climes: the New England elm and a cork tree, a cedar of Lebanon and a +maple or an English oak. Then the glorious palm--twenty-two varieties in +Montecito Valley alone. + +Sydney Smith said of the fertility of Australia, "Tickle her with a hoe +and she laughs with a harvest." But in California even the hoe is not +needed, for "volunteer crops" come up all by themselves, and look better +than ours so carefully cultivated. They say that if a Chinaman eats a +watermelon under a tree the result is a fine crop of melons next year. +And I read of a volunteer tomato plant ploughed down twice that measured +twelve feet square, and bore thousands of small red tomatoes. + +Alfalfa is an ever-growing crop--can be garnered five times each year. + +And as for flowers, I really cannot attempt to enumerate or describe in +detail. There are hundreds of varieties of roses. They were found +growing wild by myriads, and have been most carefully cultivated and +improved. One rose tree in the grounds of the Arlington Hotel has spread +over sixty feet of the veranda, and three lady guests have climbed into +its branches at once. As one man said: "The roses here would climb to +the moon if a trellis could be provided." + +A friend sent me twenty-five large bunches of the choicest roses from +her garden one morning in April, each bunch a different variety. Their +roses are shipped in large quantities to San Francisco, and Chicago has +her churches decorated at Easter from the rose gardens of Santa Barbara. + +Honey naturally is thought of. Apiculture here is a great business. The +bee has to be busy all day long and all through the year--no rest. One +ingenious fellow proposed crossing the working bee with the firefly, so +it could work all night long by its own lantern. But this is better. I +hear wondrous stories of bees getting into cracks of church towers or +upper stories, and bulging out the buildings with their accumulated +stores--positively cartloads of sweetness. Think of honey made from +orange flowers selling at five cents a pound! + +A clergyman writing of Santa Barbara County says that twenty-five years +ago all their vegetables were imported. Now beans yield a ton to the +acre, potatoes two hundred and fifty bushels per acre, and he has seen +potatoes that weighed six, seven, and eight and a half pounds--as much +as an ordinary baby; beets, seventy-five tons to the acre; carrots, +thirty. Mr. Webster once declared in Congress that this State could +never raise a bushel of grain. Corn yields fifty bushels to the acre; +barley, sixty; wheat, thirty. Others give much higher records: corn, one +hundred and thirty bushels; barley, eighty; potatoes, four hundred; +forty tons of squashes, four tons of hay, sixty tons of beets. + +I have spoken of stock-raising. Dairying is a profitable industry. +Poultry farming a little uncertain. If interested in mining there is +much to explore. Just in this county are found gold, silver, copper, +asphaltum, bituminous rock, gypsum, quicksilver, natural gas, and +petroleum. + +And what sort of a climate does one find? Santa Barbara is an +all-year-round resort. It has all that one could ask. + + "The mountains look on Marathon, + And Marathon looks on the sea." + +It is a perpetual summer--sometimes a cold and rainy June, sometimes a +little too warm, sometimes a three days' sand-storm, disagreeable and +trying; but it is always June, as we in New England know June. At least +it is Juney from 9 A.M. until 4 P.M. Just before sunset the temperature +falls. Then when the sun goes rapidly in or down it is like being out at +sea. And to a sensitive patient, with nerves all on outside, chilled by +the least coolness, it is unpleasantly piercing. + +When any one describes Santa Barbara to you as a town + + "Where winds are hushed nor dare to breathe aloud, + Where skies seem never to have borne a cloud," + +remember that this applies truthfully to "a Santa Barbara day," but +_not_ to all days. Surf bathers go in every month of the year. But this +does not alter the fact that a person would be disappointed and consider +himself deceived if he accepted the general idea of absolute heaven on +earth. The inhabitants do not wish such exaggerations and +misrepresentations to go forth. California can bear to have the whole +truth told, and still be far ahead. Who wants eternal sunshine, eternal +monotony? + +The temperature during the day varies little. I see that one resident +compares it with May in other parts of the country. I think he has never +tried to find a picnic day in early May in New England. He says: "Our +coldest month is warmer than April at Philadelphia, and our warmest one +much cooler than June at same place." They did have one simoon in 1859, +when the mercury rose to 133 deg., and stayed there for eight hours. Animals +and birds died, trees were blasted and burned, and gardens ruined. But +that was most "unusual." + +Flannels are worn the year round. Average of rain, seventeen inches. +There are sixty-one mineral and medicinal springs in California that +are already famous. Here we can take hot sulphur baths, and drink the +nauseous water that is said to cure almost all diseases. + +Farming is comparatively easy. But grapevines are smitten by a +mysterious disease called "cellular degeneration," and phylloxera; a +black scale that injures orange and olive, and a white scale that is +worse. Apples are not free from worms; the gopher is sure to go for +every root it can find. There was a serpent even in the original Eden. +The historian remarks: "The cloddish, shiftless farmer is perhaps safer +in Massachusetts." I think of experiences at "Gooseville," and decide +not to buy, nor even rent a ranch, nor accept one if offered. "Fly to +ills I know not of?" No, thank you! + +I'm tired now of agriculture and climate, and will turn to less +practical themes. You sympathize. We will stop and begin a new chapter, +with a hope of being more interesting. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +IN GALA DRESS. + + + "The sun is warm, the sky is clear, + The waves are dancing, fast and bright; + Both isles and snowy mountains wear + The purple noon's transparent light." + +To see Santa Barbara at its best you must go there for the Floral +Carnival. Then at high noon, on a mid-April day, all State Street is +brilliantly decorated with leaves of the date-palm, pampa plumes, moss +combined with tropical foliage, calla-lilies, wildflowers, bamboo, +immortelles, branches of pepper trees, evergreens, lemon boughs laden +with yellow fruit, and variegated shrubs. Draperies of white and gold, +with green or red in contrast, or blue and white, in harmony with red +flowers, or floral arches draped with fish-nets bestrewn with pink +roses; or yellow alone in draperies combined with the poppy, or gray +moss and roses. No one fails to respond to the color summons for the +day of days. The meat-markets are tastefully concealed with a leafy +screen and callas. The undertaker makes his place as cheerful as +possible with evergreens, roses, and red geraniums. The drugstore is +gaily trimmed, and above the door see the great golden mortar made of +marigolds. The Mexican and Californian colors are often flung out, and +flags are flying from many windows. The long broad street is a blaze of +glory; the immense audience, seated on tiers of benches, wait patiently, +then impatiently, for the expected procession; and as many more people +are standing in line, equally eager. Many have baskets or armfuls of +flowers, with which to pelt the passing acquaintance. There are moments +of such intense interest that everything is indelibly and eternally +photographed. I see, as I write, the absolutely cloudless sky of perfect +blue, the sea a darker shade, equally perfect, the white paved street, +the kaleidoscope of color, the fluttering pennants, the faces of the +crowd all turned in one direction, and hark! the band is really coming, +the beginning of the pageant is just seen, and now sea, sky, flags, +crowds are no more regarded, for the long-talked-of parade is here. See +advancing the Grand Commander and his showy aids, gay Spanish cavaliers, +the horses stepping proudly, realizing the importance of the occasion, +the saddles and bridles wound with ribbons or covered with flowers. And +next the Goddess of Flowers, in canopy-covered shell, a pretty little +Mayflower of a maiden, with a band of maids of honor, each in a dainty +shell. The shouts and applause add to the excitement, and flowers are +hurled in merry war at the cavaliers, and the goddess and her +attendants. Next comes the George Washington coach, modelled after the +historic vehicle, occupied by stately dames and courtly gentlemen in +colonial array; even the footmen are perfection in the regulation livery +of that period. Solemn and imposing this may be, but they get a +merciless shower of roses, and one of the prizes. And do look at the +haymakers! Oh, that is charming! Country girls and boys on a load of +new-mown hay, with broad-brimmed hats, and dresses trimmed with +wild-flowers. And now the advance-guard is coming down again; they have +just turned at the head of the line, and it is already a little +confusing. But the judges! How can they keep cool, or even think, with +such a clamor of voices, and guests chattering thoughtlessly to them. +Here comes a big basket on wheels, handle and all covered with moss and +roses. Four girls in pink silk trimmed with moss stand within, bearing +shields of pink roses to protect their laughing faces from excess of +attention. What a lovely picture! Another basket just behind covered +entirely with marguerites; the wheels also are each a marguerite, the +white horses with harness covered with yellow ribbon--so dainty, so +cool. Is it better than the other? And here is a Roman chariot, a +Spanish market-wagon, a phaeton covered with yellow mustard, a hermit in +monastic garb; then Robin Hood and his merry men, and Maid Marian in +yellow-green habit, Will Scarlet and Friar Tuck in green doublets, +yellow facings, bright green felt hats, bows and quivers flower-trimmed, +even the tiny arrows winged with blossoms. Now there are equipages +three deep to survey instead of one, as they pass and repass in +bewildering splendor. And do look! Here come the comicalities! "The Old +Woman who lived in a Shoe"--a big floral slipper, with a dozen children +in pink and gray-green, and the old woman on great poke-bonnet; a +Japanese jinrikisha; an egg of white flowers, and a little boy hid away +so as to peep and put out a downy head as a yellow chicken; a bicycle +brigade; equestriennes; an interesting procession of native +Californians, with the accoutrements of the Castilian, on horseback. One +carriage is banked with marigolds, and the black horses are harnessed in +yellow of the exact shade. It is fitly occupied by black-eyed Spanish +beauties, with raven hair done up high with gold combs, and black lace +costumes with marigolds for trimming, and takes a well-deserved prize. + +Roses, roses, roses, roses! How they fly and fall as the fleeting +display is passing! Thirty thousand on one carriage. Roses cover the +street. And yet the gardens don't seem stripped. Where millions are +blooming thousands are not missed. And not roses alone, but every flower +of field and garden and conservatory is honored and displayed. Now the +contestants are driving up to the grand stand to secure silken banners. +Every one looks a little bit weary in procession and audience. Is it +over? I murmur regretfully: + + "All that's bright must fade, + The brightest still the fleetest; + All that's sweet was made + But to be lost when sweetest." + +Yes, it is over! Waving banners, rainbow colors, showers of blossoms, +rosy faces, mimic battle, fairy scenes, the ideal realized! + +This is better than the New Orleans Mardi Gras, so often marred by rain +and mud, with mythological ambiguities that few can understand, and +difficult to interpret in passing tableaux; better than similar display +at Nice and Mentone. _This_ I do call "unique" and the only. Let Santa +Barbara have this yearly festa for her own. She has fairly won the +preeminence. + +We at the comparatively frozen and prosaic north can indulge in gay +coaching parades at Franconia, Newport, or Lenox, where costumes of +gorgeous hues assist the natural beauty of the flowers. But it is only a +coaching parade, at the wind-up of a gay season. We cannot catch the +evanescent glamour, the optical enchantment, the fantastic fun, the +exquisite art of making long preparation and hard work, careful schemes +for effect, appear like airy nonsense for the amusement of an idle hour. +We show the machinery. A true carnival can only be a success in a +perpetual "summer-land," "within a lovely landscape on a bright and +laughing seacoast." Taine said, "Give me the race, the surroundings, and +the epoch, and I show you the man." Give me fair women, roses, sunshine, +leisure, and high-bred, prancing steeds, and I show you this Santa +Barbara Carnival. + +But this is only a portion of the entertainment. There is a display of +flowers at the Pavilion, where everything can be found that blooms in +California, all most artistically arrayed; and more fascinating in the +evening, when hundreds of tiny electric lights twinkle everywhere from +out the grayish-green moss, and the hall is filled with admiring guests. +There is always a play given one evening by amateur talent, a +tournament, and a grand closing ball. + +The tournament is exciting, where skilful riders try tilting at rings, +trying to take as many rings as possible on lance while galloping by the +wires on which these rings are lightly suspended---a difficult +accomplishment. Their costumes are elaborate and gay, but never _outre_ +or bizarre, and no two alike. Each has his own color, and, like the +knights of old, has a fayre ladye among the spectators who is especially +interested and anxious for his success. + +Next comes the Spanish game of "colgar," picking up ten-dollar gold +pieces from the saddle, the horse at full speed. And the gymkhana race +ends the games. Those who enter, saddle at the word "go," open an +umbrella, and, taking out a cigar, light and smoke it--then see who +first rides to the goal. + +Last came the real _vaqueros_, and they ride untamed, unbroken horses, +after a long and rather painful struggle to mount. They lasso mustangs +and do wonderful things. But it was too much. I was glad to go and rest. + +The Flower Dance at the ball, where human flowers formed intricate +figures and dances for our edification and delight, was so attractive +that my words are of no avail. Picture twenty-eight young ladies, each +dressed to represent a flower--hollyhock, pansy, moss, rose, +morning-glory, eucalyptus blossom, pink clover, yellow marguerite, +Cherokee rose, pink carnation, forget-me-not, buttercup, pink-and-white +fuchsia, lily of the valley, wine-colored peony, white iris, daffodil, +and so on. They advance with slowly swaying motion, with wreaths +uplifted until they reach the stage, where sit the guests of honor. +There they bow low, then lay the garlands at their feet, and retire, +forming ingeniously pretty groups and figures, while bees and +butterflies flit in and out. See the bees pursuing the little pink +rosebuds until at last they join hands and dance gaily away, only to be +enthusiastically recalled. + +Do you ladies want to understand a little in detail about the dresses? +Of course you do. Well, here is the yellow marguerite: + +Slender petals of yellow satin falling over a skirt of white silk crepe, +a green satin calyx girdle about her waist, and golden petals drooped +again from the neck of her low bodice and over her shoulders. + +A handsome brunette represented a wine-colored peony in a rich costume +of wine-colored velvet and satin. The petals fell to make the skirt, and +rose again from a bell sheathing the neck of her low corsage, and the +cap on her dark hair was a copy of the flower. + +There, you see how it is done. But it requires genius to succeed in such +an undertaking. Look at Walter Crane's pictures of human flowers for +more suggestions. + +Most effective of all was the cachuca, danced by a girl of pure +Castilian blood, who was dressed to symbolize the scarlet passionflower. +The room was darkened save where she stood, and her steps and poses were +full of Spanish fire and feeling, combined with poetic grace. + +Yes, it is over, but the pictures remain as freshly colored as if I saw +it all but yesterday. + +During the Carnival sentiment reigns supreme--that is, if you have +engaged rooms far in advance, and the matter of three daily meals is +settled--and portly business men become gallant, chivalrous, and even +poetic. In testimony I offer two verses sent to a lady visitor with a +bunch of roses: + + "We had not thought it was for aught + He lingered round us, scanning, + But to admire our spring attire, + The south wind softly fanning. + + "But when we knew it was for you + Our charms he sought to capture, + All round the bower each budding flower + Blushed pink with rosy rapture. + + "Lovingly, + + THE ROSES." + +George Eliot once said: "You love the roses--so do I! I wish the sky +would rain down roses as they rain from off the shaken bush. Why will it +not? Then all the valleys would be pink and white, and soft to tread on. +They would fall as light as feathers, smelling sweet; and it would be +like sleeping and yet waking all at once." + +She never knew Santa Barbara. + +I said the horses feel proud, and their owners tell me how they turn +their heads to see their adornment. And well they may, for a true +Barbareno loves his horse as does the Arab, and delights in his +decoration. Easily first in this matter is Mr. W. D. Thompson, who came +to Santa Barbara from Maine more than forty years ago, a nephew of the +captain with whom Dana sailed. Mr. Thompson is a progressive man, who +appreciates the many improvements achieved and contemplated, but still +loves to tell of the good old times when he was roughing it as a +pioneer. He has done a most important and valuable work in having a +typical Mexican saddle and bridle of the most approved and correct +pattern made out of the finest leather and several thousand silver +dollars. As his favorite mare stood before me with this magnificent +saddle on, and her forelegs tied with a little strap so that she could +step daintily but not run, I never saw such a pretty sight of the kind. +This saddle and bridle, worth over $3000, are now on exhibition in +Chicago. No more significant or beautiful exhibition of the early +argonautic period could be sent from Southern California, and it will +surely attract constant and admiring attention. Here is a description +from the San Francisco _Argonaut_: + +"This saddle and bridle, manufactured of bullion from Mexican dollars, +are exquisite works of art. The saddle is of typical Mexican pattern, +with a high pommel, well-hollowed seat, and the most elaborate of +trappings. The leather is stamped with elegant designs, and the whole +thing is a complete, costly, and elaborate equipment, of good taste and +artistic design. The saddle is studded over with silver ornaments. The +leather facings are set thick with buttons and rosettes; the pommel is +encased in silver; the corners of the aprons are tipped with silver; the +stirrups are faced and edged with silver half an inch thick, elaborately +chased and carved. The saddle-tree is hung with silver rings, fore and +aft, to answer all the requirements of the vaquero in lacing up his +riata. The girth, which passes under the horse's belly and cinches the +saddle in place, is woven of hair from horses' manes by a native +artisan, and is fully eight inches broad, with a tassel hanging at its +middle. The saddle, the bridle, and all its appointments are marvels of +beauty. The reins, martingale, and whip are composed of solid silver in +woven strands. The headstall is covered with fluted silver, with large +engraved silver rosettes at the sides, with decorations of flowers and +heads of wheat, with an elaborate nose-piece with silver engraving. The +side-pieces are of silver, massive and ornate, with a silver chain under +the horse's jaw. The bridle, reins, and accessories weigh about twelve +pounds, and are worth not less than two hundred and fifty dollars in +value of silver coin used in its manufacture." + +Everybody up and down the coast knows Dixie Thompson. His talk is full +of delightful anecdotes of the early settlers, and he has a droll, dry +humor of his own that is refreshing. Mr. Nordhoff, who is an old +friend, once wrote to the Harper "Drawer" about his shrewd way of +restraining the over-keen traders and laboring men who tried to impose +upon him. He heads the pleasant bit of gossip, "Captain Thompson's +Club," and says: + +"Captain Dixie is, to all appearance, the man of most leisure in all +leisurely Santa Barbara. He and his horses and carriages are always at +the service of a friend. But while he seems to be the idlest of men, he +is, in fact, an extremely capable business man who has many irons in the +fire--tills much good land, has horses and cattle and pigs of the best +breeds on many hills and in several rich valleys, and keeps all his +affairs running in good order. Still, he is an easy-going, not a +bustling, man of business. And it is just here that his social +contrivance comes in: he has judged it expedient to form a club. + +"'You see,' said he, the other day, to an old friend, 'the boys don't +always see me around, and sometimes they try to take a little advantage. +I find a fellow who don't haul half a load for me while I am paying for +a full load; another one who gives me short measure; or another who does +not do what I have told him. I hate to scold; and as they all deny when +I accuse them, and I can't be telling men that they are lying to me, I +thought I'd just establish a Liars' Club and bring them all in. It is +now in good, healthy operation. We don't call it the Liars' Club, of +course; we speak of the Club. But when I catch a man trying to 'do' me, +I just tell him that I'll have to make him a member of the Club.--Oh, +how do you do, Mr. President?' said Captain Dixie to a well-known +character just then passing by.--'He's the president of the Club, you +know,' he added. 'Here's Pancho now; I told him the other day I would +have to make him a member of the Club if he didn't look out. I guess +he'll get in yet. It's a very flourishing club, and more useful, I +guess, than some others.' + +"Don't laugh, my dear Drawer. I believe Captain Thompson has struck an +admirable idea, and one which might well have wide application. Don't +you suppose the material for such a club exists, for instance--not here +in New Haven, of course, but over in New York, say, or perhaps in +Washington? Think it over. The Drawer has always taken the lead in great +moral and social improvements. I leave it to you." + +Here, as in all Southern California, you will never know anything of the +real town unless you have a friend who can take you to unfrequented +cross-country drives up winding paths to mesas, or upland pasture +guarded by lock and key from the average tourist, and get views +indescribably fine. + +I am ashamed of my fellow-travellers who pick oranges by the score, and +even break off boughs from the choicest and most conspicuous trees, and +rush uninvited pell-mell into private grounds and quiet homes of +well-bred people to see and exclaim and criticise. Add to this nuisance +the fact that hundreds of invalids come yearly to the most desirable +localities, turning them into camping-grounds for bacilli. I wonder at +the singular forbearance and courtesy of the residents. + +Occasionally some one invited to speechify or air his opinion of things +in general here bluntly expresses his surprise at finding everywhere so +much culture, wealth, and refinement. This is a queer reflection on the +fact that this part of the State is filled with specimens of our finest +families from the East. I will frankly admit that I must be at my very +best to keep up with those I have been privileged to meet here. + +You must not forget when in Santa Barbara to visit the fine public +library, the best adapted for the convenience of actual workers of any I +have entered. You must not fail to drive to Montecito ("little forest"), +to Carpenteria and Goleta. + +I also advise you to spend a morning in Mr. Ford's studio, and an +afternoon with Mr. Starke and his treasures in wood-carving and +inlaying, brought yearly from the Yosemite, wrought out with his own +hands. He uses nearly fifty varieties of trees in his woodwork, and few +see his stock and go away without investing in a redwood cane, a +paper-knife, or an inlaid table. His orders come from all parts of the +world, and are often very large, mounting up to hundreds of dollars. He +is a simple-hearted student of nature, and a thorough workman. I enjoyed +a brief visit to Chinatown and Spanishtown close by, where I saw a woman +scrubbing clothes on a long flat board, with a piece of soap in each +hand, standing in a hut made of poles covered with brush, and noticed an +old oven outdoors and the meat hung up in strips to dry. I enjoyed also +a call on the old fellow who "catcha de fisha." + +And now, looking back as we are whirled away, I find I am repeating +those lines from Shelley which so exactly reproduce the picture: + + "The earth and ocean seem + To sleep in one another's arms and dream + Of waves, flowers, clouds, woods, rocks, and all that we + Read in their smiles, and call reality." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +AU REVOIR. + +Just as a woman is leaving her friends she ever has the most to chatter +about. How can I say _au revoir_ briefly when there is so much more to +tell? I so earnestly want to give California _en verdad_, or in truth. +There has been too much bragging from the settlers, as in 1887 the Los +Angeles _Herald_ said that "New York would soon be excelled by that +city." There is a general desire to surpass all the rest of the world in +as many ways as possible, and a general belief that it can easily be +done. And visitors have omitted all that was unpleasant, and exaggerated +the good points, so that one Californian speaks "of the dancing +dervishes of travel, singing insanely from the moment they come to us." + +There is so much that is novel in this wonderland that it is hard to +keep cool and look at all sides. In 1870 all vegetables and grain were +imported. Mr. Webster declared long ago in Congress that California was +absolutely worthless except for mining and grazing. The rancheros +thought the land only fit for sheep to roam over. Now great train-loads +of vegetables and grain leave daily for the East; all the earliest fruit +of New York, Boston, and Chicago comes from this State, and ships are +carrying all these products to all parts of the world. From north to +south the State measures over 800 miles--as far as from New York to +Florida--with an area of 189,000 square miles--as much as New England +and the Middle States combined, throwing in Maryland. The northern and +southern portions are as unlike as Massachusetts and Florida, and the +State must soon be divided. How little is known of Northern California! +Next year I hope to describe that, with its lofty mountains, wonderful +scenery, lakes of rare beauty, immense interests in grain, fruits, and +mining. This little bit along the coast is but a minute portion of the +whole. I have only followed in the footsteps of the Fathers, and would +like to take you to Monterey, where Junipero Serra founded his last +mission. Mrs. Stanford has placed a statue of the dear old saint on the +shore to honor his life-work. Realizing the size of the State and its +capabilities, big stories seem inevitable. As Talleyrand said of Spain, +"It is a country in which two and two make five." + +Some statements need to be modified. It is declared over and over that +here there are no thunderstorms. In the _Examiner_ of May 19th I read: +"Santa Rosa was visited by a very severe electrical storm about eleven +o'clock last night. The sky was brilliantly illuminated by lightning, +and peal after peal of heavy thunder was heard. This was followed by a +rain which continued until near morning." A church steeple was struck by +lightning and destroyed. This is unusual, but for "never" read "hardly +ever." No mad dogs, yet a little terrier I bought in San Francisco to +give to a friend had to be shot its first summer on account of rabies. +Let us balance matters: + +No malaria, but rheumatism. +No cyclones, " wind and sand storms. +No thunderstorms, " earthquakes. +No mad dogs, " rattlesnakes and centipedes, tarantulas and + scorpions. +No sunstrokes, " chilling fogs. + +All goes when the sun goes. The climate is "outdoors." A sunny room is +essential. The difference between noonday and midnight, temperature +between sun and shade, is something to be learned and guarded against. + +Each place is recommended by doctors who have regained their own health +as _the_ place for invalids. What Dr. Edwards says of San Diego is +repeated everywhere else by experts: + +"San Diego presents the most even climate, the largest proportion of +fair, clear days, a sandy and absorbent soil, and the minimum amount of +atmospheric moisture--all the factors requisite in a perfect climate." + +In each "_peripheral resistances are reduced to a minimum_." Dr. +Radebaugh, of Pasadena, who, I believe, has not the normal amount of +lung but has been restored to health by the air of Pasadena, where he +has a large practice, assures me that, in his candid opinion, "Pasadena +is the greatest all-the-year-round health-resort in the world." Dr. +Isham, of same place, goes into details, and is almost the only +physician I have consulted who acknowledges drawbacks in the Pasadena +climate for those who desire a cure for throat or lungs. "This climate, +like all else here, is paradoxical and contradictory," and he mentions +that the winds blowing from the Pacific are not usually the +rain-bearers, but those blowing from a point directly opposite, and that +the arid desert. Among objectionable features he mentions the "marked +changes of temperature daily, frequent fogs, excess of humidity in +winter owing to protracted rains (thirty inches in five months, from +November, 1892, to March of this year); hot, dry winds that prevail in +summer, with wind and sand storms, which have a debilitating effect on +nervous systems, and are irritating to the mucous membrane." + +How refreshing to find one person who does not consider his own refuge +from disease an ideal health-resort! He also owns that doctors do not +know yet how to treat such troubles as bronchitis, as is proven by their +experimenting upon patients in Minnesota, Colorado, Arizona, Florida, +and Pasadena. And he closes his letter in this way: + +"When local jealousies have subsided, and contending climates have had +their day, the thing of cardinal importance for an invalid such as you +have mentioned to do when about to change his or her home will be, not +to attach too much importance to this or that particular climatic +condition as determined by the barometer, thermometer, hygrometer, +anemometer, and other meteorological instruments, nor to lay too much +stress on a difference of a few hundred or thousand feet of elevation +above the sea; but choose a home where the environments will afford the +invalid or valetudinarian the greatest opportunity of living +out-of-doors, and of spending the hours of sunshine in riding, driving, +walking, and in other ways, whereby the entrance of pure air into the +lungs is facilitated. In Pasadena the days in winter are warm enough to +make outdoor life attractive and healthful, while the number of sunny +days throughout the year is above the average of that prevailing in many +other deservedly popular health-resorts." + +I will also quote a letter received from Dr. W. B. Berry, formerly of +Montclair, N. J., who, coming to Southern California an almost hopeless +invalid, is now fairly well, and will probably entirely regain his +health. He also is careful and conservative in statement, and therefore +commands serious attention: + + "Riverside, Cal., May 2, 1893. + + "Dear Miss Sanborn: To recommend any place to an invalid is to an + experienced climate-hunter no doubt, at times, a duty,--certainly + it is a duty from which he shrinks. + + "One does not see so many advanced cases of pulmonary disease here + as at either Asheville or Colorado Springs. The thousands of miles + of alkali, sage-brush, and desolation might explain that, but it + does seem to me that a much larger proportion of consumptives are + 'doing well' in this country than in those. + + "_Pure dry air_, _pure water_, and _clean dry soil_ are the + climatic elements essential for the pulmonary invalid, and for most + others. These conditions can be found at Riverside and its vicinity + during a large proportion of the year. + + "Here, too, are cool walks, with sunshine or shade, as may be + desired, and things on every side to interest. For, unfortunately, + the man with a sore chest has a brain and a spinal cord to be + stimulated and fed, not to speak of those little heartstrings + undiscovered by the anatomist, and which yet tug and pull mightily + in a far country. + + "In short, it would seem that any consumptive in an early stage of + his disease who does not thrive at a moderate altitude would do + well to come here and to stay--that is, if he will remember that + all the climate is out-of-doors." + +My own troublesome throat is almost as good as new, and I am proud to +name my physician, _Outdoors, M.D._ Come and consult the same unfailing +restorer. + +I have given, according to my humble ability, _la verdad cierta_--the +absolute truth--about the small fraction of the State known as Southern +California. + +I came with gargle and note-book, but long ago gave up the former; and +as for these jottings, I offer them to those who want to see this +much-talked-of Earthly Paradise as in a verbal mirror. And to all a +cordial _au revoir_! + + "Adieu to thee again! + A vain adieu! + There can be no farewell to scene like thine: + The mind is colored by thy every hue." + + + + +KATE SANBORN'S BOOKS. + +Adopting an Abandoned Farm. +16mo. Boards, 50 cents. + +"'Adopting an Abandoned Farm' has as much laugh to the square inch as +any book we have read this many a day."--_Boston Herald_. + +"If any one wants an hour's entertainment for a warm sunny day on the +piazza, or cold wet day by a log fire, this is the book that will +furnish it."--_New York Observer_. + + +A Truthful Woman in Southern California. +12mo. Cloth, 75 cents. + +"Miss Sanborn is certainly a very bright writer, and when a book bears +her name it is safe to buy it and put it aside for delectation when a +leisure hour comes along. This bit of a volume is enticing in every +page, and the weather seemed not to be so intolerably hot while we were +reading it."--_New York Herald_. + +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. + + + + +"EVERY AMERICAN SHOULD READ IT."--_The News, Providence_. + +The Life and Times of Thomas Jefferson. + +By Thomas E. Watson, Author of "The Story of France," "Napoleon," etc. +Illustrated with many Portraits and Views. 8vo. Attractively bound, +$2.50 net; postage, 17 cents additional. + +Mr. Watson long since acquired a national reputation in connection with +his political activities in Georgia. He startled the public soon +afterward by the publication of a history of France, which at once +attracted attention quite as marked, though different in kind. His book +became interesting not alone as the production of a Southern man +interested in politics, but as an entirely original conception of a +great theme. There was no question that a life of Jefferson from the +hands of such a writer would command very general attention, and the +publishers had no sooner announced the work as in preparation than +negotiations were begun with the author by two of the best-known +newspapers in America for its publication in serial form. During the +past summer the appearance of the story in this way has created +widespread comment which has now been drawn to the book just published. + +_Opinions by some of the Leading Papers._ + +"A vastly entertaining polemic. It directs attention to many undoubtedly +neglected facts which writers of the North have ignored or +minimized."--_The New York Times Saturday Review of Books_. + +"A noble work. It may well stand on the shelf beside Morley's +'Gladstone' and other epochal biographical works that have come into +prominence. It is deeply interesting and thoroughly fair and +just."--_The Globe-Democrat, St. Louis_. + +"The book shows great research and is as complete as it could possibly +be, and every American should read it."--_The News, Providence_. + +"A unique historical work."--_The Commercial Advertiser, New York_. + +"Valuable as an historical document and as a witness to certain great +facts in the past life of the South which have seldom been acknowledged +by historians."--_The Post, Louisville_. + +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. + + + + +By JOHN BACH McMASTER, Ph.D. + +History of the People of the United States, + +_From the Revolution to the Civil War_. By John Bach McMaster. To be +completed in six volumes. Vols. I, II, III, IV, and V now ready. 8vo. +Cloth, gilt top, $2.50 each. + +"A history _sui generis_ which has made and will keep its own place in +our literature."--_New York Evening Post_. + +"Those who can read between the lines may discover in these pages +constant evidences of care and skill and faithful labor, of which the +old-time superficial essayists, compiling library notes on dates and +striking events, had no conception."--_Philadelphia Telegraph_. + +"Professor McMaster has told us what no other historians have told.... +The skill, the animation, the brightness, the force, and the charm with +which he arrays the facts before us are such that we can hardly conceive +of more interesting reading for an American citizen who cares to know +the nature of those causes which have made not only him but his +environment and the opportunities life has given him what they +are."--_New York Times_. + + +With the Fathers. + +_Studies in the History of the United States_. 8vo. Cloth, $1.50. + +"Professor McMaster's essays possess in their diversity a breadth which +covers most of the topics which are current as well as historical, and +each is so scholarly in treatment and profound in judgment that the +importance of their place in the library of political history can not be +gainsaid."--_Washington Times_. + +"The book is of great practical value, as many of the essays throw a +broad light over living questions of the day. Professor McMaster has a +clear, simple style that is delightful. His facts are gathered with +great care, and admirably interwoven to impress the subject under +discussion upon the mind of the reader."--_Chicago Inter-Ocean_. + + + + + +STANDARD HISTORICAL WORKS. + + +History of the People of the United States, + +_From the Revolution to the Civil War_. By John Bach McMaster. To be +completed in six volumes. Vols. I, II, III, IV, and V now ready. 8vo. +Cloth, gilt top, $2.50 each. + + +The Beginners of a Nation. + +By Edward Eggleston. A History of the Source and Rise of the Earliest +English Settlements in America, with Special Reference to the Life and +Character of the People. The first volume in a History of Life in the +United States. Small 8vo. Gilt top, uncut, with Maps. Cloth, $1.50. + + +The Transit of Civilization, + +From England to America in the Seventeenth Century. By Edward Eggleston. +Uniform with "The Beginners of a Nation." Small 8vo. Gilt top, uncut. +Cloth, $1.50. + + +The Household History of the United States and its People. + +By Edward Eggleston. For Young Americans. Richly illustrated with 350 +Drawings, 75 Maps, etc. Square 8vo. Cloth, $2.50. + + +Bancroft's History of the United States, + +From the Discovery of the Continent to the Establishment of the +Constitution in 1789. (Also _Edition de Luxe_, on large paper, limited +to one hundred sets, numbered.) Complete in six volumes, with a Portrait +of the Author. 8vo. Cloth, uncut, gilt top, $15.00; half calf or half +morocco, $27.00; tree calf, $50.00. + +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. + + + + +HISTORIC LIVES SERIES. + +A series of popular biographies dealing with famous men of all times and +countries, written in brief form and representing the latest knowledge +on the subjects, each illustrated with appropriate full-page pictures, +the authors being chosen for their special knowledge of the subjects. + +Each 12mo, Illustrated, Cloth, $1.00 net. + +Postage, 10 cents additional. + +_NOW READY_. + +Father Marquette, the Explorer of the Mississippi. +By Reuben Gold Thwaites, Editor of "The Jesuit Relations," etc. + +Daniel Boone. +By Reuben Gold Thwaites, Editor of "The Jesuit Relations," "Father +Marquette," etc. + +Horace Greeley. +By William A. Linn, Author of "The Story of the Mormons." + +Sir William Johnson. +By Augustus C. Buell, Author of "Paul Jones, Founder of the American +Navy." + +Anthony Wayne. +By John R. Spears. + +Champlain: The Founder of New France. +By Edwin Asa Dix, M.A., LL.D., Formerly Fellow in History in Princeton +University; Author of "Deacon Bradbury," "A Midsummer Drive through the +Pyrenees," etc. + +James Oglethorpe: The Founder of Georgia. +By Harriet C. Cooper. + +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. + + + + +A NEW VOLUME IN APPLETONS' HISTORIC LIVES SERIES. + +Horace Greeley. + +By William A. Linn, Author of "The Story of the Mormons"; formerly +Managing Editor of the _New York Evening Post_. Illustrated. 12 mo. +Cloth, $1.00 net; postage, 10 cents additional. + +It is remarkable that so little has been written about Greeley since he +died; in fact, since Parton's book appeared, just before the civil war, +no one has undertaken a comprehensive life of Greeley. Greeley's own +autobiography, which he called "Recollections of a Busy Life," has been +the only later work of note to which readers could go, and that book has +not been in general circulation for a great many years. Mr. Linn's +volume, therefore, should have a large public waiting to receive it. The +character of Horace Greeley is studied by Mr. Linn in his editorial +work. He traces his opinions as set forth in his editorial writings. In +this way he shows how he "grew up" to his earnest advocacy of a +protective tariff; how he became the most powerful opponent of the +extension of the slave power, after looking on the subject almost with +indifference in his earlier years; his curious inconsistencies during +the civil war, when he was a source of constant interference with the +Administration at Washington; and the circumstances that led to his +selection as the Liberal candidate for President in 1872. + +"Every lover of America's great men should possess this life of +Greeley."--_Raleigh Observer_. + +"The best biography of Greeley yet written."--_The Literary World_. + +"Mr. Linn has not attempted an elaborate life of Greeley, but only an +extended, a just and thoroughly appreciative essay. Eminent success has +crowned the effort. The general public, as well as the more fastidious +student, will find genuine pleasure and real benefit in perusing this +little volume."--_Prof. William F. Dodd, New York Times Review_. + +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. + + + + +REMINISCENCES OF A SCIENTIST. + +The Autobiography of Joseph Le Conte. + +With portrait. 12mo. Cloth, $1.25 net. + +Professor Le Conte was widely known as a man of science, and notably as +a geologist. His later years were spent at the University of California. +But his early life was passed in the South; there he was born and spent +his youth; there he was living when the civil war brought ruin to his +home and his inherited estate. His reminiscences deal with phases of +life in the South that have unfailing interest to all students of +American history. His account of the war as he saw it has permanent +value. He was in Georgia when Sherman marched across it. Professor Le +Conte knew Agassiz, and writes charmingly of his associations with him. + +"Attractive because of its unaffected simplicity and +directness."--_Chicago Chronicle_. + +"Attractive by virtue of its frank simplicity."--_New York Evening +Post_. + +"Well worth reading even if the reader be not particularly interested in +geology."--_New York American_. + +"This story of a beautiful, untiring life is worthy of consideration by +every lover of truth."--_St. Paul Despatch_. + +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, + +NEW YORK. BOSTON. CHICAGO. LONDON. + + + + +THE AUTHENTIC LIFE OF LINCOLN. + +Abraham Lincoln: The True Story of a Great Life. + +By William H. Herndon and Jesse W. Weik. With numerous Illustrations. +New and revised edition, with an Introduction by Horace White. In two +volumes, 12mo. Cloth, $3.00. + +"It will always remain the authentic life of Abraham Lincoln."--_Chicago +Herald_. + +"A remarkable piece of literary achievement--remarkable alike for its +fidelity to facts, its fulness of details, its constructive skill, and +its literary charm."--_New York Times_. + +"The three portraits of Lincoln are the best that exist; and not the +least characteristic of these, the Lincoln of the Douglas debates, has +never before been engraved.... Herndon's narrative gives, as nothing +else is likely to give, the material from which we may form a true +picture of the man from infancy to maturity."--_The Nation_. + +"Truly, they who wish to know Lincoln as he really was must read the +biography by his friend and law-partner, W. H. Herndon. This book was +imperatively needed to brush aside the rank growth of myth and legend +which was threatening to hide the real lineaments of Lincoln from the +eyes of posterity.... There is no doubt about the faithfulness of Mr. +Herndon's delineation. The marks of unflinching veracity are patent in +every line."--_New York Sun_. + + +Lincoln in Story. + +_The Life of the Martyr President told in Authenticated Anecdotes_. +Edited by Silas G. Pratt. Illustrated, 12mo, Cloth, 75 cents net; +postage, 9 cents additional. + +"A valuable and exceedingly interesting addition to Lincoln +literature."--_Brooklyn Standard-Union_. + +"An excellent compilation on a subject of which the American people +never grow tired."--_Boston Transcript_. + +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. + + + + +_A PICTORIAL HISTORY OF THE WAR WITH SPAIN_. + +Cannon and Camera. + +Sea and Land Battles of the Spanish-American War in Cuba, Camp Life, and +the Return of the Soldiers. Described and illustrated by J. C. Hemment. +With over one hundred full-page pictures taken by the Author, and an +Index. Large 12mo. Cloth, $2.00. + +"Accurate as well as picturesque.... Mr. Hemment has done his work well. +In point of faithful realism there has thus far been nothing better in +the whole war literature."--_Boston Journal_. + +"Clever and picturesque.... Over one hundred capital instantaneous +photographs illustrate Mr. Hemment's well-written record, and not the +least of the book's recommendations is the outspoken simplicity of its +style, and the strong impression it makes upon the reader of being the +uninfluenced evidence of an eyewitness who 'draws the thing as he sees +it' and without exaggeration or prejudice."--_Sunday School Times_. + + +Recollections of the Civil War. + +By CHARLES A. DANA. With Portrait. Large 12mo. Cloth, gilt top, uncut, +$2.00. + +"The book will rank among the trustworthy sources of knowledge of the +civil war."--_New York Evening Post_. + +"Mr. Dana's official position as Assistant Secretary of War while the +rebellion was in progress gave him exceptional opportunities of +observation which he was keen to take advantage of, while his rare gift +of terse and vivid expression enabled him to record what he saw in a +series of pen pictures that are little less than instantaneous +photographs. The feature _par excellence_ of these reminiscences is +their interesting character.... He tells you briefly but graphically +what he saw, heard, or did himself. One gains a very real and personal +knowledge of the war from these recollections."--_Chicago Times-Herald_. + +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. + + +[Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors have been +corrected. + +In Chapter II, "irridescent" has been changed to "iridescent", and +"witten" has been changed to "written".] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Truthful Woman in Southern California, by +Kate Sanborn + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A TRUTHFUL WOMAN *** + +***** This file should be named 19391.txt or 19391.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/3/9/19391/ + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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