The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-05-06
A BATTLE OF W

not fail to go to santa Barbara Tor the
flower festival; it is a most unique and in
teresting event. California, you know, Is
the fowery kingdom. and Santa Barbara
is the capital OF the kingdom. AT no place
will you be so overwhelmed with the vast
ness and variety of the flower products
Of the coast. This quaint town was old
before St Louis was thought of, was an
important point when Boston was a VII
lage and New York the capital of the Dutch
possessions of the new world and Chicago's
site a play ground for frogs. Spanish
Franciscan monks settled and built a mis-
sion there early in the seventeenth GEN.
fury. You will never regret your visit"
Incited by this enthusiastic hint and
armed with a letter Of introduction to Mr..
! E. w. Gaty. who is the Mayor of the city
of roses and senoritas. one April after
noon found us being whirled around the
edges OF Santa Barbara valley, along
whose side trickled and gurgled the water
through irrigating bitches that give life
TO pretty groves of orange, fig, prune,
lemon, English walnut and apricot orchards
bordered by the picturesque pepper trees
and crimson bodied green foliaged eucalyp-
tus, an Australian tree that loses it's bark
each season instead OF it's leaves. The
orchards and valley presented a scene won
drous fair TO see. On the right lowered
TIE VelVety green SlQeS or BraSS-clau noun
tains. on the left beat the warm swelling
surf of the Pacific, murmuring tales of
tropical isles that rest far away upon its
blue bosom: here it fretted it's force against
a white sanded beach. and anon a rocky
cliff withstood its battering blows. Copper
colored Castflians or their darker hued
Mexican kinsmen lounged in picturesque
idleness around their adobe homes or sat
a prancing horse with a graceful abandon
that fingered long in the memory. AS the
big blazing sun sank out of a lurid sky
into the rimson tipped waves of the Pa
cific, furnishing the green velvety sides of
the Santa Inez mountains, towering four
thousand feet above US, the train glided
between live oak crowned hills into the
prettiest seaside town in America With
the glories OF a sunset found only in Italy
or on the Pacific coast added it was a June
sunset in New England. Under the guild
ance Of Gaty early morning found us astir
inhaling copious draughts of the pure,
bracing, fower-scented air, eager for the
fray of flowers to come later in the day.
In April, 1891, President Harrison and Mrs.
Harrison visited Santa Barbara In honor
Of their visit a floral festival was given,
which proved so unique and interesting
that in April, 1892, it was repeated on a
grander scale. and now ii has been made
LII ilHud FESTIVAL luSlllB I'VE Gays, curing
which the city is given over to a revelry
of roses. An annual pilgrimage and a pay
ment of homage to the goddess Flora that
is destined to rival the famous "Bataille
des Fleurs' at Nice. over $500, 900 flowers,
that number thousands Of different varie-
ties. are used in decoration for this
flower festival, from the rarest gifts
OF the cultivated garden to the wild
flowers that are coaxed by the gentle show
/ r m nRfnO in Tho fDann frnf f~ADo
valley and on mountain side. On one float
fifteen thousand La France roses are used,
on another fifteen thousand Marguerites;
still another is completely covered with
Brodias. a rare California flower, Vehicles
of every description. from the numbering
wagons and carts or the canister and
rancho to the daintiest carria ges, are trans
formed into things OF beauty by the Devil
dering profusion of flower decoration.
stepping horses, gayly bedecked with now
ers, they traverse the shaded streets, car
rying people of all compilations and stations
in life, rich and poor. all bent upon enjoy
ing the festivities of the flower festival.
There a party. of chattering Mexicans.
each mans head surmounted by the pc
culiar Mexican hat, that costs from s. 10
SIS, while the balance Of his costume could
70 cents, they are accompanied by their
"senoras' and "senoritas," who wear no
hats at all.
There. in a float drawn by stately white
mules. is a gayly-dressed party, singing a
pretty Spanish song to the accompaniment
VI ouAtoi anu NdiiOOh llC lACy II QdIh-
eyed "senorS' and "senoritas," through
whose veins flow the blood of an ancestry
the time when "El Captain" Don Jose Della
Guerra y Noriega and other Castilian
%grandees found homes on these pleasant
shores in the dawn of the seventeenth GEN.
fury. Yonder. silhouetted against the fringy
foliage of the pepper trees. that shelter
an old adobe spanish home, stands a mod,
into a gorgeous floral basket, in which sit
a pair OF young bloods, armed for the fray
of Hover soon to begin.
A stylish pair of chestnut-sorrel horses
draw a hobby park phaeton. that is fairy
like in decoration; a canopy is swung in
graceful lines in the rear, and this Is sur
mounted by an American eagle. There is
something suggestive Of Cleopatra In its
style. In 1t are seated a gentleman and
three ladies. In smart summer costumes,
and they are industriously warding off the
suns rays with their stylish shades. All,
see that gayly-bedecked cart and It's COM
Portable occupants; note their midsummer
makeup, you shivering mortals in a less
favored cline.
Here, indeed. is a novel sight-a Spanish
band on horseback; violins, mandolins and
guitars, eight of them, under the baton of
dreamy. sensuous music of Spain, in which
seems to slumber a fire of a fury that is
lulled into quiet only by the strains of these
sweet stringed instruments.
Look at this-this winrow Of scarlet and
green. 1t is at least four feet high. and so
dense a humming bird could not creep
through its maze of Towering foliage; it
is a hedge of geraniums. And. wonder of
NOuucTS, lOOf- DIT luOSe trees. lncy are
fuchias; yes, actually the plants that we
nurse in pots under glass at home, and
their pendant bell-like buds are thousands.
Those beds of lilies are. fields, far-reaching,
foamy, perfume-ladened farms. See that
rose tree-not a bush. but a tree-whose
gorgeous burden of buds are thousands; at
least sixty feet in diameter is its 1owery
top.
And we cease to wonder that two and
one-half million of flowers could be used
at the festival and not be missed.
But here comes the parade. State street
is being cleared for the battle of flowers.
Up one side and down the other go the
hower-bedecked vehicles, carrying the
laughing, shouting warriors. Never was
combat so merrily entered upon: never did
warrior hurl at warrior such sweet, harm
less missiles, amid the shouts and laughter
of gay women and brave men. To the soft,
sensuous music of guitar and mandolin they
pelt each other to their hearts content.
All, but here is the browning event of
the festival. a pair of fiower-clad, revolv-
ing turreted monitors, manned by sweet
little men-of-war children. eight to ten
years of age. in natty naval uniforms. The
fiower-loaded guns Of the floats were ma
neuvered into position, and let go at each
other broadsides of flower that threaten
10 swamp them in sweetness. The fiowery
shot fill the air, amid shouts of delighted
laughter from contestants and spectators
Thara wa M hload no diving of,aanS No