The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1898-09-16
CALIFORNIA LETTER.
Miss Franc Scully Writes About Her New
Home In the Far West.


thinking that 80 or 81 degrees of heat
make very warm day, indeed, and as
they meet each other on the streets,
mop their brows and say, as it warm
enough for your" But think if they
could be suddenly transferred to Fres-
no on a day when the thermometer
registers lis in the shade, and 1877 in
the sun, they would feel very uncom-
Portable. In fact, life here is very lit
orally all sunshine, and pretty much
| all roses. We never have drop of
rain in the summer, anyhow there has
not been any since we have been here.
| One has the consolation, however, of
| feeling secure from thunder storms and
their attendants. But, while we do not
fear that evil, we face greater one,
! for fires are daily, and even semi-daily
occurrences. For the past two or three
weeks the burning of a dwelling or two
a day was looked upon as small
matter, but few days ago the people
began to get excited when whole
block of business places and residences
burned. The Edgerly block, in which
we live, came near going that night, as
the fire was directly opposite. The
next night about eleven o'clock q dwell
lllR dllu WllllC lllC WClC
all at that fire the Forsyth Raisin Pack
ing House, in another part of the town,
caught. 1t was one of the most beauti-
full buildings in the city, and directly
opposite was another equally as nice.
Before the engines could get from the
other fire these two buildings were q
mass of flames and the fire spread
down the Southern Pacific tracks for
four blocks, burning a half-doZen
packing houses, number of ware
houses and dwellings and string of
freight cars. The Forsyth house, !
have heard, was owned by a man from
Capac, Mich. The loss on the build.
ings was 100000 and there were
10000 tons of raisins, besides thousands
of tons of dried peaches, lost. That
was an exciting night in the Chinese
quarter which borders on the packing
house district. The Chinese were
senseless from fright and number of
them were killed. One was run down
by a hose-cart, and another, having
had a rope thrown to him in the upper
story of house by a fireman who ex-
lpected him to tie it and descend, mere
ly caught the rope in his hand and
jumped, thinking, dare say, that the
fireman could gently pull him down.
| II, y,
he has since died from the effects of
his fall. The next day, went down
to the Congregational Chinese Mission,
where / have been teaching evenings
since May, to see if the building had
been saved from the wreck, and found
that by miracle, it was all right, with
the exception of broken windows and
doors, When l returned home, what
was my surprise to find the people who
live here ready to move out, for the
building had caught fire, though it
proved to be nothing serious. Had it
, burned the loss would have been con-
siderable, as it is a three-story build
ing. containing the Post Office. the
Daily Republican Office, q number of
stores, Fresno Business College, a Nor
NAL school, lodge-rooms, club-rooms
and q dozen families. We are. since
living with everything packed up and
locked, ready to move out at mo
ments warning; and / really saw a
lady Yesterday writing her name on
her chairs AMI tables.
A drive into the country at this sea-
son of the year is full of interest, es-
pecially to one unaccustomed to such
sights. For miles and miles one can
drive along q road covered with dust
d.. | ID.
. rows Of the most beautiful palm trees,
cool, waving umbrella trees, and odd
looking fig trees, with their queer leaves
and white trunks, inviting the wayfarer
to partake of the fruit with which they
are so heavily loaded. Then, through
the trees, one can catch a glimpse of
the vineyards, thousands and thousands
of acres of grapevines, loaded with the
large MuScat grapes, from which the
packers in the Raisin City convert the
commodity which has given Fresno
this name. The large ranches and far
; stretching vineyards, with fruit trees
. along the roads for fences, and the fine
houses surrounded by towering trees
in which the mocking-birds sing all day
long, are indeed beautiful, and think
/ would be perfectly happy did / own
!. one, but some way, the little East
: ern farms with the neatly fenced gar
dens and fields, seem more homelike.
/ wonder what the careful Michigan
D farmer, who always keeps his gates
I shut and the dog on guard to keep the
: neighbors' chickens out of his wheat,
, would do out here, with only row of
fig trees to keep the boys, yes, and the
girls, too, out of his melon patch and
peach orchard. 1t is lots Of fun to
MdJCl a. lOtlutu Will O-pOullOl
: melons come into town. and the darkies
stepping over each other in frantic
= efforts TO secure the largest prize. There
have been thousands of carloads of
: melons shipped from this point this
I. season. / have been doing the steno-
e graphic work for a shipping merchant
this summer, and oh, what a time had
= learning to spell the names of the
Armenian dealers, and of the strange
fruit, and to get the cowboy slang to
express my employers thoughts when
he wanted to give customer a calling
down. l must confess that / made
several mistakes at first, but my EN-
ployer was very considerable, and would
only remark that / was true Easter
ner. And now when / have letter
that says, "Pinks selling at four bits a
sack. There is no sale for spuds. Will
probably ship car of cants tomorrow"
/ have some idea as to the meaning of
the same. But this letter is growing
very long, and / will have to bring il to
q close. With regards TO all my Y ale