The weekly Arizona miner., 1873-02-08
Thr @~ Sginer.
LETTER FROM CALIFORNIA.
SAS DiEGo, January 22, 1873.


 To "A, Editor of th Arizona Miner:
 So many moons have woned since my last that the readers thereof and its numerous predecessors may now be in good condition to "stand another dose" And in the first place let me dispel their anxiety about myself m this wise,-that the Merodachian corpus of the writer is becoming heal,hfully inflated under the genial influence of an unriyaled | "climate,n the companion in arms of matchless "harbor.n And 1 may just as well say, now, that there Is not a particle of irony ncstling in the shadow of this last re- mark. l think 1t necessary to make this statement, as the people of San Diego are some hat "touchy" upon this point, having suffered some inconvenience and disadvant ages through the influence of gratuitous calumnies hurled from time to time, by the advocates of conflicting interests, against the delightful, sun-lit, ocean-tempercd atmosphere and unexceptionable harbor
 My Trip
 From Los Angeles to this place would have been monotonous bad it not been for the fact that l was travelling over the intervening country for the first time. It is q country full of that class of novelty which is won n soon becomes commonplace from association From Los Angeles to Anahem there is one great, settled country settled partly by stock raiscrs and partly by cultivators of the soil. From Anahem to San Diego, you pass almost constantly over the estates of land princes, who hold those infamous Spanish grants-which have done so much to retard the settlement of the country And, uEfor- tunately, the agricultural community referred to is not of the progressive stripe. It con- sists almost exclusively of immigrants from Arkansas and Texas who arc in sympathy with the Mexican ideas of enterprise :-
 Live, live today tomorrow never yet
 On any human being rose or set.
 They don't believe in the education or cultivation of the human family. All they know is learned from nature and they dis claim the theories and fooeries of the phil osopher. As an instance of this will state simple fact; and to premise let me say that the schools now among them are regarded with suspicion by their oldest heads. Some where in the neghborhood of San Luis Rev. an intelligent gentleman was conducting a school, as teacher Among his pupils were several juvenile Arkansawers. He endeavored to explain to the more advanced of these the phenomenon of the Earth's rotundity. One of the youngsters, all aflush with the newly parental mansion and unbosomod himself in the pres ence of the parental anccstor-a school trus- tee. The father waxed wroth. Did this thin-nosed "Yank" take his son for fool. to tell him that the Earth was round. like aii apple, when he had the evidence or his eyes to the contrary. Arkansas mettle could not stand it, 80 a meeting of the school commis- sioners was called and deputation waited on the teacher to inform him that his ser vices were no longer required in the capacity which he had just abused, by filling the heads of the children with such lying trash. The teacher is out of employment.
 Margarita Rancho.
 The only one of those land princes who seems to interest himself in the progress of the country or the improvement of his es- tates Is Don John Foster, "real old English gentleman" who has resided in these parts for the last 30 years, He owns the Rancho Santa Margarita, comprising an area of 2O leagues. Don John has made an arrange ment with Gen. Max Stroble formerly of Arizona, now of Anahiem), to send to Ger many and bring thence 300 or 100 families to settle up this great valley. The conditions upon which this scheme of colonization is to be carried out in point of liberalty on the part of Mr. Foster, are hattering in the ex- treue.
 San Diego
 Is, in short, delightful place to live in, the statements of disappointed growers 10 the contrary notwithstanding. description would be supertluous, as the local papers here have not left anything unsaid on that score But there is one institution in this place which must not be passed over by sweep ing generality, and that is the
 Horton House.
 Cad it recalls the beauteous past, the days of white supremacy, to put foot within the hOspitable doors of this haven. No Cbinaman claws your beefsteak in the kitch- eD; no negro virgin carries you the staff of life or dances attendance at the table while you dine; no "culled genman" bows acqui- essence at the door and says, "I am porteh, sab" and goes for your baggage, etc.-no, the thing is reversed here. You meet A white man or boy at every turn. There is not single, solitary "cheapjohn" employee about the institution, and certainly the exclusive preference shown for white men and bows is praseworthy in these times, when hypocrisy in all things pays so well.
 Admonitory.
 While I would recommend to all your readers, and yourself, MT. Editor, rigid ob- seryance of that old maxim in which virtue and happiness are conspicuous expressions, will now adjourn to the bar and take a d. dose oi medicine. EyIL-MERoDAcM