Los Angeles herald., 1892-03-20
OLD ITALY AND "OUR ITALY,
A Reverend Traveller is Delighted with
Los Angeles,


The following are few extracts from
a letter OF Rev. J. G. Fletcher of Los
Angeles to Rev. DR.. Henry NJ. Field of
New York, and which was recently pub
lished in that city:
My Dear DR.. Field:
In your recent letter you tell me how
you recall "the sunny days we have
spent together on the shores of the bay
of Naples" and you express your good
will by saying, II hope you find our
Italy as bright and sunny as that on
the other side of the sea-" This last
sentence makes me believe that it would
interest both yourself and your readers
to know something about the bright
and sunny" land where, in the provi-
dence of God my lot is now cast.
1, too, recall those happy days spent
on the shores of the Neapolitan bay. l
lived there long enough not only to love
the climate and the beautiful scenery,
associated with go much that is inter
esting in this worlds history, both
sacred and classic, but in seventeen
years myself and wife have learned to
love the people, not only for the dear
English and Scotch friends who reside
there permanently, and the Americans
WHO, Ilk6 NOuTsell anu Idullly, NlblLtu
US, but for the Italians.
But, much as we love Southern Italy
and its delightful climate, pleasantly as
we got along with Italians, l find cli-
mate here as charming and people
who come nearer my heart than Ital-
ians, because they are of my own nation
and because greater proportion are the
children OF "the great King"
from, ha nitx, ~ T Ay,Uoloc
and look at Pasadena, Pomona, San
Bernardino, Riverside, Redlands and
other places, which were mere sheep
and cattle ranches" under the Mexi-
can, and you will find that they are to-
day surrounded by the magnificent
verdure of the finest subtropical pro-
ductions in the world. Ascend an emil
nence, and you will see each of these
places, with their church spires, as
Chalmers said, "poinfing heavenward,
like hand, beckoning down the bless
ing of God" You will see also the
school houses, with "the flag of the
free" waving over them, and beyond the
green of the corporation limits you will
behold extensive groves of oranges and
lemons, orchards of deciduous fruit
trees. which last year brought millions
of dollars, and in some places there are
vast vineyards, which annually send
forth thousands of tons of raisins. The
silver-leafed olive, too, begins to make a
show here and there, while in parts of
Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernar-
dino counties you must add to the land
scape thousands of acres planted to the
English walnut, to say nothing Of vast
fields of wheat, barley and Indian corn.
As to climate. here is land the most
favored in the United States. 1t is not
only that we are free from snow, sleet,
freezing cold, billiards. and cyclones,
but we enjoy a winter temperature the
most genial in our country. The news
reached us by telegraph some two weeks
ago that in Dallas, Texas, it was 10 de-
grees below zero. Galveston was suffer-
ing from unusual freezing, New Orleans
was having season of snow and sleet,
and in Alabama there were several cases
of death from exposure to winter
weather worthy OF the northern states.
During that period we here in Los An
geles were enjoying our accustomed
sunny and genial January weather.
Indeed, for the first twenty-five days of
January, 1892, the average observations
per diem of the thermometer gave US