Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1888-03-16
SOUTHERN CALTFORNLi.
En Route TO the Land of Eternal SUM
mer---frOm New Orleans across Texas
nnd through the Arid Wastes nnd the
Wonderful scenery of "the GreRt
American Desert.v

mer---frOni New Orleans across Texas
nnd through the Arid Wastes nad the
Wonderful scenery of "the GreRt
American Desert"
MoNRovfA, Cal, March /, 1893.
Dear Phpnic Sunday, Feb. 9th. and
Monday forenoon were spent by our party
in New Orleans New Orleans has the
reputation Of being quaint" city, and
so it is but, so far as we explored, it was
most notable for its filth. 1t is no wonder
that yellow fever finds an easy foothold
there the only marvel is that it ever
leaves OF course we visited the French
market, the wharves etc, but to US the
most interesting and attractive spot was
that where are grouped the several ceme-
teries for here was not only quaintness but
beauty, and Of a type which can nowhere
be seen at the North. The ground being so
low and wet that ordinary burial is imprac-
ticable, tombs built wholly above ground
take the place Of graves, and these are Of
ten Of an elegant artistic and costly char
acter. Many fine statues and monuments
are also to be seen, notable among which is
the equestrian statue Of the rebel general,
| Albert Sidney johnson. We also noticed
many beautiful emblematic figures. These
cities Of the dead (the property of different
orders and societiesj with their miles and
miles Of walks and avenues, shaded with
orange, lemon, palm, live oak, cypress and
other evergreen trees, the tombs bearing
fresh floral tributes of love, or surrounded
| by roses and other shrubs, gave us glimpse
Of the sunny South and the character of
its people which we shall always prize
Crossing the Father of Waters on a
ferry boat we found ourselves Monday af-
ternoon in the village of Algiers, in the
outskirts of which are located the market
| gardens that supply the city. Only pease,
cabbages and other hardy vegetables were
visible above the ground. Crossing south
| ern Louisiana, the sugar mills and planta-
tiOns became the chief objects Of interest
| The sugar interest Of the South seems,
| however, to he at a low ebb the profits
are said to be much less than formerly and
the present agitation in favor of reducing
or removing the tariff will not tend to help
the business Whether or not the low
moist lands Of Louisiana are suited to grow
any other crop than sugar cane is ques-
ton which cannot answer.
Though Thomas Jefferson as one Of
the train men called him-he probably
meant "Jo jefferson seems to have found
| his paradise in this region, ] failed 10 sec
anything that struck me as answering the
description very closely. To be sure, the
| broad, level fields where the darkies, men
| and women, were engaged in burning or
| huryin the old sugar cane lin the latter
case covering it in trenches, so that new
canes would shoot up from the joints Of the
! ODD looked handsome and productive, and
the tangled cypress swamps in which here
and there appeared the red young leaves
Of the gum tree or the curious form of the
/ fan palm, were not without their beauty
| but there was no variety To the landscape
no attractiveness to the farm houses and
villages, and seemingly no assurance that
almost any day the rising waters of the
neighbOring river or gulf might not oblige
one tu take 10 the nearest tree.
The state line was crossed during Mon
day night, and Tuesday morning found Us
entered upon the little job Of covering 9j2
miles Of Texas territory. Soon We dscov.
cred the fact that we were leaving the
swamps and Jungle of the low lands be
| hind us and crawling up on to the dry ia
ble lands. san Antonio, where we took
dinner. is place Of some 30, 600 inhab-
tants, and possesses quite an attractive and
stirring appearance Some of the smaller
| places, too, showed signs Of recent awak
ening but the region 10 which northern
and eastern emigration has most tended of
late lies farther to the north Before
reaching the vicinity Of the Rio Grande We
realized quite fully the altered character Of
the country through which we were pass
| ing. The small growth of musquite and
chapparel which had succeeded the cypress
and its negbbors Of the low lands had
themselves given place to-what Not
much of anything The landscape had be
| gun to look barren and desolate. Here
and there a bunch Of buffalo grass
sage brush or prickly pear cactus here
and there, many miles apart, solitary
windln for drawing water, proclaiming
the near abode of a ranchman. whose half
starved cattle, perhaps, grass and sage
| brush having failed, were fan 10 wrestle
/ with the savage thorns of the cactus And
here | might AS well remark the frequent
! sight of skeletons of cattle by the wayside
all through Texas
Passing through the grand canyon of the
Rio Grnnde in the night, we continued for
| about half the next day to increase our al
| titude, until at Passno We were j0S2 feet
| above the sea level-the highest point
reached on the journey. But what a coun-
! try, and what uncouth, dreary, uninviting
| vet wonderful scenery IL we had been
! dropped upon the surface of the moon, and
were riding over its scared, dead crust,
| from which all life and moisture had been
burned and dried out, the scene could
scarcely have been more desolate and drear
| From above the broad continental swell
upon which we stood, mountain ranges or
solitary peaks more bald and bare and
suggestive of an age Of volcanic fires. or a
newly risen ocean bed, even then the yer
| dureless plains through which they seemed
| to have been thrust, rose sharply, abruptly
hundreds and often thousands of feet high
er still, in forms strange and picturesque
In crossing this height the road winds
about sometimes doubling upon itself in
| great loops, quite the reverse of its usual
| straight, Underwriting course-in some cases
| 30 miles or more without bend.
BY this time the members of our party
had become pretty well acquainted with
one another, and perhaps the reader would
| like an introduction to some of them. The
| Boston branch of the party, joined by the
three Brattleboro members at Greenfield
numbered 2S, aud to these six from New
York were added at II point on the Erie
road of course the party had its Genuine
/ Yankee of the down east description
an animated interrogation point, who was
| first to form acquaintance with everybody
and had not been two days ON the road be
fore finding out, as far as possible, the bi
| ography, motives and destination of every
fellow passenger, ladies not excepted, for
was not his lady companion another inter
| rogutiOn point, and quite as animated
| Then there was the Wealthy Manufacturer
with his two pretty daughters whom the
single gentlemen were fond of engaging in
conversation or joining in an Informal con
cert after the shades Of night had shut out
the attractions of the scenery there
were the Old Couple, wearing a look Of
sad resignation, who had been summoned
TO the bedside of their dying daughter at
Pasadena; there was the Retired Physi.
clan whose sands of life had so far run
out that he was going in search Of a new
supply, but who was still able to spin a
good story Of his experience as surgeon
during the war there was the Mysterious
Young Lady, who had ne companion, and
whose history and antecedents not even
the Yankee Sister could draw from her
there was the Experienced Traveller, who
was never reluctant to relate his marvel
Gus experiences or to call attention to the
points of interest along the way and there
was the young Limb of the Law. who had
| views ON all subjects aud was never 10th to
express them, and whose grand opportuni-
ty came when the birthday of the Young
! Hopeful was celebrated by the presenta-
ton of a bow and arrow purchased by some
of his fellow travellers from poor Lo at one
of the way stations. OF the other mem
bers Of this genial party, equally worthy,
perhaps, of the readers acquaintance, new
er mind now their duplicates are to be
found in any and every overland excursion