The San Francisco call., 1896-05-10

the doors connecting the rooms had to be
fastened up to make the different suites,
the deep recesses left in the thick walls
were used as china closets, bookcases and
cabinets, and with their blue embroidered
portieres and draperies one would never
dream that they were designed for any
other purpose.
All rooms facing upon the verandas are
immense, for in the olden times they had
quadrilles, and all the dons and ladies of
the old times in Monterey danced there.
These large front rooms have been util-
lied by the girls as living-rooms, and the
visitor never fancles, when seeing the low.
wide divans, covered with tapestries of
artistic design and adorned with tlounced
pillows, that these luxurious siesta ar
rangements can be transformed into COM
Portable beds. While the divans look neat
and pretty, they are useful and save room.
Screens hide the dressing tables.
A little discovery resulting from linger-
ing traces of the old-fashioned feminine
curiosity added to the interest of the
Pleiades' early occupancy of the adobe.
In one of the walls was detected a little
secret recess, which in the olden days may
have been the hiding place for the family
plate and jewels Slowed away in that
place were found two pairs of antique
candlesticks, carved in curious design.
The young ladies have footstool of the
while on ramble along the coast. They
are always on the alert for relics, and their
rooms are filed with rare old curiosities.
The large 'living-rooms" open into q
cozy little dining-room. Where the win
dows face upon the garden in the rear,
which used to be the pride of the Spanish
grandees, is now an Enclosure with high
adobe walls where honeysuckles, palm
trees and sweetbriars grow.
Within the adobe walls the bachelor
maids think they have an ideal home. 1t
is no boarding place. There they can dis
cuss, entirely away from the world, their
own ideas. The walls have no ears, and it
would be pretty hard to hear through
three feet of adobe. One of their dearest
principles is dress reform.
They all wear tneir reform suits in the
schoolroom, and, although at first the
children stared instead of studied. thew
are now used to the sight and behave as
well as they did before the innovation
which proves, the teachers say, the falsitv
of the assertion that short skirts, bloomers
and leggins detract from a woman's dig
nifty.
The first appearance of the boomers
upon the streets of Monterey caused the
descendants of the men and women of the
Alcalde days to pause and ponder and
shake their heads. Not word of an
provai have they for the latter-day Ameri-
can women who walk or ride through the
streets without the ancient and orthodox
style of skirts.
All forms of open-air exercise available
for young women are popular with the
teachers. The seyenteen-mile walk or
bicycle run on Cypress drive is frequently
INDUCED in. Other Monterey girls often
join the Pleiades on the pedestrian excur-
sions, which include the trips to Point
Pines and the lighthouse, and sometimes
as many as twenty-five of the "bloomer
girls" are seen together on the roads about
Monterey or Pacific Grove.
The Pleiades have distinguished them
selves in fishing and boating and at times