Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1891-06-04
For the Ellsworth American
0ur Trim
fContinued.l


well kept and the best street car service l |
have ever seen; nowhere else can you ride |
on electric or cable cars so far or so fast |
for five cents. 1t has the beginning of a |
two or three hospitals, excel |
lent school buildings, fifteen banks and is
a thriving business town. Mr.. Wooster,
who accompanied US in our visit here,
shows us hill now in the centre of the
town where fifteen years ago. when he
came here to teach school, he hunted the
rabbit and quail. 1t was then a small
Mexican village with few American houses
and shops. Four years ago it had the
but especially this part of it, and is only
just recovering from it. What disaster
that boom" carried in its track, But Los
Angeles is now awakening manufactures
are in force of nearly every kind. 1t is
the great agricultural depot of this section
and it cannot well help being large and
thriving city.
At midnight we start north At five in
the morning, John rouses me, the first
time l have been angry for the trip, to see
the change-we are in The midst of
severe snow storm 1t is incomprehensi-
Bile; five hours ago We were in country
where men claimed to have picked ripe
Strawberries every month in the year and
here it is showing as hard as it did in
NIat,. a Inf tnft hk,,,,
They attempt to explain 1t by saying
that we have been climbing up Hill during
the time; there is nothing to do but &C
cept il, which we try to do gracefully. In
a short time we have descended into the
San joaquin valley, the country lying be-
tween the coast range and the Sierra
Nevada mountains. The upper portion Of
this valley which extends from the noun
tains north of Southern California to San
Francisco seems to be uninh&bited for
many miles but later in the day we reach
the great wheat fields of California. None
Of us believed it until obliged to do so,
but there are hundreds of them ranging
from four to thirty thousand acres; 1t
seems incredible but there they are. Aside
presents nothing striking or having any
approach to beauty.
We reach San Francisco al 9 P. NJ, and
ind excellent accommodations at the
Palace hotel where you may room at 81. 80
per day and take meals there or elsewhere
a. YOU choose. San Francisco reminds Us
Of Boston; taking from that city few OF
the suburbs lately added it Is about the
size. 325 600. II Is the only city seen on
the trip with anything ike the same miser-
able arrangement of streets There are
mansions unsurpassed anywhere ant a
business stir equal To many larger cities.
In the morning the trst thing is China
town. We were fortunate in orr guide
he having been policeman for many years
ID that quarter We first visited the mar
kcf. II was quite Clearly in its way. that
is the ii>h, meat, etc, looked we'll, but
duck, eggs rolled up 10 layer, of mucky
earth and many months old. fowl that had
! been split into two parts and pressed &
| long time ago were nol especially inviting
| A restaurant frequented by the better
classes was in many ways elegant; III,
| furniture with its inlait wood and metal
| the draperics, the dishes the ported plant.
and flowers were some of them at leas
| extremely fine. But the food The ser
Il
merchants the bits OF sliced liver which
am sure was uucooked, the smaller hits OF
| different meats had about them an odol
unpleasant, though not that of decay
Watermelon seeds filed exquisite little
dishes beside each plate and was a mart o
place was an opium den which We mex
visited, q place of resort for the lower
classes. oar guide, an Intelligent mar
few hundred of the most dissipsted fire.
quented these resorts or resorted to opium
! In excess We pushed through a lon:
| hall IN which was = fortune teller who's,
business seemed excelen; a. several stoot
around his table listening iBtently to hi.
humbuggery. They gave u no attention
something which | noticed everywhere
unless acco-ted By our guide, who knew
many of them. they recognized our pres
ence not even with look. little further
on was kitchen" in which the familic.
/ of the poor make their stews; the stencil
was nauseating. At the end a door opened
I into long, low, dimly -lighted room con
/ tanning tiers of hunks. Lying in these OF
straw were several men The further par
I Of the room was SO dark that one coulc
7 not discern the number but several coulc
| be seen and heard snoring OFF their stupol
| brought on by the opium pipe Two
| others near the door were smoking each q
| long stem pipe perhaps two feet with 8
wooden bowl having a small opening il
| the centre and still smaller openings
around this. A piece of gum opium was
| pressed into the larger opening, and
smeared into the smaller, a taper applied
and after filling the mouth, the smoke was
exhaled through the nostrils. 1t takes an
average ot about two hours and twenty OF
thirty pipes for an old smoker to get his
sleeping dose. A man was sitting at q
table eating his dinner with two sticks
bits of greasy dirty meat were floating in
his bowl of gravy and he showed grea,
dexterity in Selling them and conveying
them to his mouth. The stencil here was
horrible and some of US were anxious to
retire from the scene early. temple
which We visited was a curious study.
They have no Sabbath, no services, but
come here as they choose to pray to their
gods As We passed in the smell of Durn-
ing incense was not unpleasant; the room
was small and dark. In the farther Dor.
ton, few feet from the wall. hung cur
tain of small images, birds, beads, etc.
Two or three openings in this revealed the
dim image Of god, each similar in size
to that of a large doll, but without any
semblance of art. Pots of ashes from the
burned incense set in front of these Some
of the images of which the drapery was
made were fine. We visited several stores.
well kept. IN every way Clearly, with
courteous intelligent keepers. Some of the
articles for sale were very fine; shawls.
scarfs, handkerchiefs, jewelry, furniture,
etc. were costly and elegant. Many of
these merchants are wealthy Thov boya