Los Angeles daily herald., 1875-09-19
Correspondent of the NO. Picayune.l
FROM THE PACIFIC COAST.
A Day Dream The People.

| am In very pleasant m00u to-day.
The zephyrs which come from the
shores of the Antilles to your beau
tiful city are balmy and pleasant, yet
enervating. The coast for more than
three-fourths of the year, originating
perchance in the sea currents which
| spring up along the glorious islands
of the Indian ocean and crossing the
cold waters that pour down along these
| shores from the Artic seas, comes to
us properly tempered, seeming ladened
| with the odors of spices, singing of
sunny lands far away and yet imbued
with the vigor of Northern climes,
having tonic effect upon the system
that is most extraordinary. No soft
| languor fetters the limbs and floats the
mind away into day dreams, but an
| inspiring mental and physical vigor
drives away sleep with the early dawn
| and one is filled with the most pleas
urable emotions of which the soul is
susceptible as the gentle roar of the
| Pacific greets the ear, emotions that
grow upon us as we gaze out upon the
soft blue sky and feast the vision upon
the beautiful mountains which lift
their heads wherever the eye may
| turn.
Here, dear Pic, is the land of song
and letters. Here may not prophe
cy, will be bred the scholars that will
raise American literature and science
to the pinnacle Ofits glory? Here on
these golden shores will be reared the
poetical giants of the worlds annals.
If the Mediterranean breezes bore up
on their wings the inspiration that
filled the souls of the mighty bards of
antiquity, and tuned the harps of Dan
:e, Petrarce and Tasso; if the rugged
and stOrm-beaten shores of Great Brit
ain nurtured Bryon and Shakespeare,
and Milton, and Pope and Burns,
what will these glorious seas and
mountains bring forth? What will
be the gauge of the minds that will
grow up here, result of such wonder
full physical and psychological devel-
opments and convulsions; where the
wrecks of a worn out primeval world
have been heaped together in snch a
happy combination as to fit it for the
final dwelling place of the perfected
human race-enobled humanity-the
great result or the migrations and
miscegenations since the beginning
of ftime, strained through the filter of
untold ages, refined and purified by
| the countless wars and revolutions
that have desolated and renewed the
earth, elevated and developed by the
labors and genius of the myriads
whose ashes cover the rocky ribs of
the globe-the combined living and
durable elements of the Golgotha ov-
er which improvement has slowly
travelt d since chaos reig @?
Here upon the shores of earth's
grandest ocean will man have acheiv-
ed the destiny of the first complete
era of migration. Over the shining
seas can almost be seen the high cra-
die of our race, and the same wave
that bears away the golden hearts of
these mountains laves the land where
sprung the earliest civilization. Toll
ing ever westward enlightened man has
circumscribed the globe and standing
erect in this beautiful valley measures
the nadir and the zenith of the star of
empire. She pictures the two accurs-
ed of God standing upon opposite sides
of Behring's Straits, gazing upon each
aurora borealis. Could we not draw
more soul-stirring portrait of Prog
ress and Decay on the opposing shores
of the New and the Old World.
May we not fondly dream that in
this wondrous cline will rise o civil
zation prouder than any the world has
seen; will spring up more God-like
genius to unfold the mysteries of earth
and soar forth in space to fathom the
minutest secrets of the universe; will
grow poetic inspira ton that will daz-
zle like the gorgeous noon-day sun;
will come type Of man nearer the
first image of his God, and woman of
more perfect beauty and nobler attri-
butes than all her sisters that have
gone before. Here, too, will be work.
ed out the problem of government,
and rise republic such as has been
sought for centuries--a dispensation
of equal laws to happy men-resting
tike one of the beauteous clouds that
float o. er this favored region upon the
mountains head, its weight scarce
felt, its every side a golden one, and
bearing in its bosom neither tighten
ing storm, nor wind, nor rain. A
structure fairer than poet has realized
or hylosopher dreamed Of; the light
of higher and nobler religion resting
upon its dome; its foundations an
chored in their golden bed; wealth,
prosperity and peace streaming from
every portal, where noble man and
pure women shall Jointly dispense
justice and evoke wisdom and virtue
to lift up the great sorrow that rests
upon the worlds heart and guide the
tide of civilization down the vale of
Time.
Perhaps you will say that Gradgrind
must have been Willing away his
hours upon some lonely peak, and
come under the spell of the mountain
nymph. Ihave nothing else to do but
climb up these hills and gaze down
upon this lovely valley, and with the
| delicious sea breez coming in from
Santa Monica, tanning me into ecsta-
| CIV, look away into the future to faith
ON the destiny of my adopted home.
I am stranger in strange land, and
| therefore have but little communica-
ton with my fellow men. Besides,
| this Is resting time here anyhow, and
only the s'can't-get-aways" are loung-
| ing about town. But we have a cheap
er way of enjoying vacation than the
rest of humanity. The nabob and
poorest artisan may indulge in it alike.
| We go to the mountain or the sea-
shore and live under tentin true pic
mic style, and the beach is now lined
for miles with little canvas habita-
tions and bath-houses, while high up
in the caf1ons may be seen tented vii
liages. As no rain falls, all that is
needed is protection from the noon
day sun. Indeed man requires no
habitstion here for ten months in the
year, and many of the settlers pass
| the first season with their families un-
der live oak tree. Even this pro-