The herald., 1896-04-15
SPRING Street NOTEBOOK
BY s. B ROSS

Nature has provided, in her vast labra-
tory, material for the qualification of each
and every sense of her human subjects,
and California was not neglected when she
dispensed them among the divizions of the
earth bounded by latitude and longitude.
Here we have the blue sky and the clear at.
mosphere which enables US to view with
uninterrupted vision the mountains, ocean
and valleys, from points scores of miles
distant from the point of observation, the
intervening space softening rugged outlines
and the general effect, and adding beauty
to that which is already endowed with ro.
nance and historical association. The fra
grant and brilliantly variegated floral
wealth of this favored land, together with
its vegetable luxuriance, are of perennial
character. and we revel in the lavish dis
play OF beauty and comfort, without real
izinR the exceptional solicitude the univer.
sal mother has displayed towards US.
The sense of smell is perhaps the least
important to mankind. OF course, if
robbed OF this necessary functional pos
session, we would wonder what life was
worth living for. But allow it to be
whispered that there are certain refiec-
Los Angeles find the sense which pervades
the nasal department of the constitu ion
an odd member, which could be tempo
rarily dispensed with.
A stroll down Main street. or Spring
street. below Third, after dark, or once
more. a venture in the neighborhood of
Second street and Broadway, will furnish
large striking evidence of the fact that the
human family possesses the ability to in
vent smells which would make nature
pause and grow pale with despair, or take
on the complexion Of q sea-sick novi-
tiate.
pooIo aUo, oOpto;po in oon1onsoJ
form more war.like material for the de.
struction OF olfactory air castles than any
other nuisance ever invented through hrl.
man ingenuity. This detestable institu.
ton plants itself in the restaurant neigh
borhood and the complacency induced by
the internal possession of decent dinner
turns to sack cloth and ashes the moment
the owner collldes with the odoriferous cy-
clone. A slaughter house in torrid weather
is not o circumstance; the cheese which
has made Germany famous is Oriental in
cense when placed beside it for compara-
tive purposes: the reputation of the skunk
becomes foul slander upon the escutch-
con of the playful and inoffensive quadru-
ped, whose worst fault is the legend about
its deceitful appearance on certain oc.
casions and the breath of an Italic garlic
f1end takes flight in shame along with the
steerage atmosphere of an emigrant vessel
just unloading at Castle Garden. There is
no use trying to corral or imprison the
smell; musket ball would fall seneless if
it ran against it. The root of the evil
must be extirpated. and nothing but fire
or cholera fumigation will perform the op-
GRAFTON. Fire did it not long ago, at the
corner Of Second street and Broadway, but
it was the intention Of fate through the
medium of refractory gasoline stove
not human purpose. But, sad to relate,
while the d,minutive burlesque on Cologne
was being consllmad. Dinua for a. worth "
successor were evolving in the fertile brain
of the grieving proprietor, and the awful,
diabolical smell which silences the voice of
the lanyard, stands as monument to the
burnt tamale wagon.