Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1901-02-11
LETTER FROM CALIFORNIA.
Mr., Editor:

DIR. Editor:
Happy the moral people of old Yer
mont, where the cold sends sin home
shiver1ng without a rag on. Califor-
MIA with its sunny skies has some
drawbacks. Tt has some go-as-y you
please laws that are hundred years
behind good old New England. am
not here to start reform school or to
dictate law; but listen! On our arri-
val at Los Angeles I took up daily
paper and the first thing that met my
eye, in heavy type read something
like this: ''There will be baseball
game at the ball grounds Sunday
afternoon: there will be horse race
Sunday at o'clock at the race track:
there will be a hundred dollar bicycle
race at the Hippodrome Sunday eve
ming, and a cock and dog fight at the
Jesse James rat pit Sunday night; the
Grand Opera Company will open
three weeks engagement at the Los
Angeles theatre Sunday evening at
s O'Clock sharp" And they might
have added, "We have 400 beer and
LIQUOR saloons running night and day
at full blast" Now would not this
Jar a Sunday school scholar from the
East2 1 have always been great
lover Of the theatre and never could
see any harm in putting good play
upon the stage, but a Sunday night
= Tor ~ mo n
fact would not dare to risk my life
ON the streets after dark alone in a
town with such unwholesome laws.
Sixty years ago, [ am told, that If
man stole a borse here if he was
caught they hung him on the first
limb Which way are we drifting?
Oh, yes, for the better. A change is
sure to come; creeds and unbeliefs
come and go but good in the end is
sure to prevail.
This is the ideal land of all American
people who have become weary of
the constant struggle for existence in
mercantile and other indoor pursuits.
A small farm or some outdoor life
where they can support their families
in comfort and end their days in peace
without being disturbed over bank
note over due, the shadow of the
sheriff, or the fear of the poorhouse.
No place in the United States can offer
greater inducements to such an over
worked class than southern California.
In no other section can an acre of
land be made to yield products of SO
great value as here, aud the cost of
living is quite as cheap as in the East,
and a nice good cottage house can be
erected for $500, a better one of
course for $4,000, but the grounds and
flowers are what they look at here.
Then there are so many out-of- door
attractions to take the attention of
those who come here for rest and
recreation. You can go to the noun
tains and wander through forests Of
giant pines and frs and inhale the
pure ozone and drink at fountains
such as DeSoto would have hailed
with delight; you can view wonderful
peaks, chasms, beautiful valleys, and
distant desert plains, and appreciate
as never before the beauty of nature.
There is no malaria in these noun
tains, not one germ, it is claimed, can
be found, but the air is rich in pure
oxygen and ozone. 1t is said that the
mosquitoes cannot breathe this noun
tain air or perpetuate their kind in its
waters.
I beg your pardon, patient reader,
for my persistence in showing you all
sorts of things as I see them, and
hope to find something more interest
ing for my next.
Yours truly,
II. F. PILLSBURY.
Los angeles, Cal, Jan. 26th, 1901.