Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-05-13
WOMAN'S DEPARTMENT.
EDITED BY BELLE MEADE SMITH.
A woman to Roast OF.


A woman to Roast OF.
1t is claimed by Eastern and foreign
tourists that Los Angeles is too young
in years and too cosmopolitan in char
acter to have any so-called society.
In the main this is true, yet despite
the perpetual arrivals and departures,
the confusion resulting from
the continual changes made BY
those who, although they have
come to stay, are for while rest
less spirits. the intellectual irma-
ment is here and there studded with
stars as brilliant as those that of a
cloudless night look down upon South
ern California. Foremost among these
luminaries is Mrs. Jessie Fremont. In
writing OF her in this strain, | may be
violating the courtesy she extended
toward me when one day last week |
called upon. her at the Marlborough
House; but if so, the fault is hers
for having been agreeable, and not
mine for being enthusiastic. Indeed,
/ imagine the impression she produc-
ed upon me was similar to that which
Martha Washington would have pre-
dnced if times and circumstances
could have been reversed Still, do
not believe that Mrs. Washington,
whose revolutionary education must
have been more or less primitive,
talked like Mrs. Fremont, who has
not only received but improved all Of
the advantages Of this advanced
age. Therefore, although Mrs. Ere
mont admonished rue, as new
writer, never to tell all l knew. but
rather to hide the information | ac-
quired for future use, cannot refrain
from saying that | think she is wo-
man of whom Southern California can
Justly boast. When blue blood flows
toward the heels instead of the head,
it loses, to democratic minds, its ceru-
lean hue; but when, on the other
hand, it courses toward the
brain, it becomes deeper and
more significant to those whose
ancestry begun aud ended at the
corner grocery. So it is in this case.
In speaking of Southern California,
Mrs. Fremont said: ''If ! should
write East an actual account Of its
growth and advantages, am afraid
l should be regarded as a boomer.
Even the roses are too remarkable to
be believed in without being seen
while the perfume of orange blossoms
is at times too prodigal to be en-
joyed." OF Inglewood, Mrs. Fremont
further said: ''It will make a
beautiful suburb to Los Angeles, es-
pecially as in every respect it
is solid and we'll laid out. Even
now, it does not in the least look
like new place. II looks to the
contrary, like an old French town,
fashioned after the Versailles pat
tern" Then she told me the profess
sional history of the once popular
journalist who, under the non de
plume of Miss Grundy, wrote such
charming letters from Washington
and the watering places. The
young lady, who was Ken uckian,
was compelled at the close
OF the war to seek her liv
Iihood, which she did by entering the
employ OF the Government at Wash
ington. Subsequently she was dis
missed because her services were no
longer required; whereupon she be-
came sick, and was conveyed by
friends, who we're familiar with her
fallen fortunes, to Long Branch.
While located there she wrote series
of letters to her mother, who found
them 30 enjoyable that upon one
occasion she read some of them aloud
to several lady friends. The rea6i1g
chanced to be overheard by a repre-
sentative of the New York World, and
who was so struck by their cleverness
that without further demur he ar
ranged with her mother to engage her
as the Worlds special correspondent,
at a salary Of 500 week, and as well
agreed to pay all OF her expenses at
the watering places he wished her to
describe. In conclusion of the recital
/ said: "Miss Grundy's experience is
phenomenal" "Yes," said Mrs. FIRE.
mont, "but If it occurred once, it can
occur again. 1t is impossible to tell
where lightning will strike" This is
an encouraging possibility for strug-
Cling women to contemplate.