Los Angeles daily herald., 1886-04-09
OLD GENTLEMAN MASHED.

for the Picking Fresh Itnsp-
berries All winter, and "a view
ia Any Direction that Is Wor-
shy 10 be Painted by nm Old
Master.
PASADENA, CAL. March 6, 1886.
Ladies and Gentlemen Il want you to
prepare to believe that am not liar.
| know how hard it will be for you, at
the outset, and after you have read what
| shull write of this place you will hest
tate to believe me under oath. / have
struck the place that Is nearest to hea-
ven Of any place on earth, do believe.
| thought Riverside was a most beauti-
full place, but with all its wealth of or
anges and grapes and other fruits, 1t is
no more to be compared to Pasadena
than nothing in the world. After re.
naming nearly week in Los Angeles,
city of perhaps $4,000 inhabitants.
during all of which time the rain fell in
torrents and the air was chilly, one day
young friend, who formerly lived in
Milwaukee, suggested that we go to
Pasadena. We took train for the ride
Of nine miles, and the little engine
pulled the coaches up hill nearly all the
way, and when the hills had been
climbed we were eight hundred feet
higher than Los Angeles, in the San
Gabriel valley, at the foot of the Sierra
Madre range of mountains, the foot of
the mountains touching the valley, and
their tops only ten to a dozen miles
away. In the distance the mountains
are snow. capped the year round, and
they look so near that you would hardly
be surprised to have an avalanche OF
| snow come sliding down upon the
valley, but snow never comes here.
The valley is gently rolling for many
miles, nnd here, in dozen short years,
there has been built up a lovely village
of small farms, or Gardens of Eden. At
| frs. the place was ranch, with one
adobe house, when colony of eastern
people bought it, brought water down to
it from the mountain gorges, and they
SCI out orange trees aud waited for them
| to grow. Ii was question as TO what
the people could do TO live while
the orange trees were growing large
| enough 10 bear fruit, lut they found
SDiltbhtbE W hOt anu Olit iittS bt-
came large enough. Before that time,
however, other settlers came in to make
homes, and orange trees were Of no &C.
count. The original settlers sold out,
many of them, for more money than they
ever dreamed could be made raising or.
anges. They bought more ground, ex.
tended the water all over the valley,
new corners planted every fruit and
flower they could think of, built houses,
and 10 day there is one of the happiest
and most contented communities in the
world. Every dooryard contains more
flowers than the greatest conservatory at
the east, every fruit that can be grown
anywhere on earth is grown here, and for
three hundred and fifty days in the year
the sky is cloudless, and winter and sum
mer the children can play out doors with
no wraps on, and the ladies' go about the
most of the time in white dresses. One
can drive all day, every day, for month
without passing the same object of inter-
est twice; over roads as firm as the park
roads of Chicago, through grounds that
are like cultivated parks, and never get
tired of the scenery; an appetite awaits
every meal, and ten hours of sweet, re-
freshing sleep is the inheritance of the
happy people here. This is the kind OF
place | have struck after much wan
| dering. There are vineyards mile
| square, where grapes are grown by the
car load, and sold to the wineries by
the ton. Up to this time the hotel &C.
commodations have been vile, and are
now, but Boston millionaire has Just
| erected on high piece of ground
| hotel to cost nearly half million dol
lars, which will be ready for next sea-
son. The new hotel presents view in
any d rection of from ten to thirty miles,
of fruit.covered valley, snow-covered
noun ain, and ocean, such as travellers
may cross continents to see. No pen
can describe the loneliness of Pasadena.
There are miles of hedges of cypress,
trimmed in all beautiful shapes, and
streets shaded with the rapidly grown
pepper tree, the eucalyptus aud the live
oak. There are orange, lemon, lime,
apricot, pear, fig, japanese plum trees,
plum and pruhe trees of all kinds, olive,
walnut, aud banana trees twenty feet
high. Gala lilies are more plentiful
than the commonest flower ut home.
To give you an idea how plentiful the
lovely Gala lilies are here, l will men,
lioh that pho ihhJ nNhh q huhatNu Aitoh-
ly picked callas to be used at an Easter
service in the little Episcopal church,
and at least five hundred came from
other ladies'. This will open the eyes
of some of my good lady friends who
have watched single Gala for months,
training it up in the way 1t should go,
to have il ready to gladden. the pulpit on
Easter. A lady friend OF mine wanted
to send flowers TO friend the other
evening, who was going to give a party,
and what do you think she sent them in!
She took the largest sized clothes
basket that could be found, and
filled it to the brim, piling full
of rose buds. There are rose bushes
here twenty feet high, and fifty feet
across, with millions OF roses, and climb
ing roses that climb all over house, out
on the roof, and they would go up the
lightning rod, if there were any lightning
rods on the houses. A woman from the
East, who is here for the trst time, is
liable to break her back carrying away
the flowers that are given her on visit
to any house. The little old lady who
travels with me has become actually
round shouIdered Juggling around rose.
buds, and worrying for fear there will
not be any left to blossom tomorrow.
To-day am full. You have heard of
man bsing full as a goat. WE'LL l am
full Of goat. You did not suppose was
coming out here to chew on goat for
livelihood, did you? Well. | have be
come that kind of a cannibal. The other
day met Mr.. Lynch, the editor Of the
Los Angeles HERALD, and he asked me
how would like to go out in canon
some day and help him eat a kid. had
never eaten any kids, but did not want
to show my ignorance, so | told him |
should like it above all things. thought
maybe there was a time here when the
people felt as though they must eat
kid or two. and | didn't want TO stop
their pleasure, so l agreed to go.
thought maybe il did not like kid, when
the time came they would let mo lunch
on harness tug or something. He set
to-day, Sunday, as the day, and the re-
suit is am Just about as full of youth.
full goat as q man can be, and II don't
bleat before morning it will be strange.
Mr., Lynch is an epicure. And that
reminds me OF q story the captain of
my yacht tells. Two Englishmen were
discussing the subject of eating. and
one says to the other, Emery,
vot is h'epicure." The answer was,
30, h'epicure? Why h'epicure is
bloke as will heat h'ennything. Lynch
has friend who keep an Italian restau,
rant, where everything is cooked right
Once year or so he secures young
kid, and keeps it until it is about six
weeks old, feeding it ON nothing but its
mothers milk. 1t never eats a spear of
grass and is simply fat on milk. The
kid is taken off into canon, away from
the vile city, beside a mountain stream,
killed and dressed and cooled, and
placed ON sticks over the embers of a
fire, and roasted, being basted and
turned frequently, and when done to a
turn it is placed on an improvised table,
camp fashion, and the happY. hungry |