The Somerset reporter., 1902-02-06

are very superficial. Nature did more
tor ) tDtt Barbara than for any place
VA ever in. II has a large quota of
cultivated and travelled eope among
- fr-idents, and many UhO have beet
all over The world, return 10 Santa
Barhua az strai0h, IA bird to il
ne=f, acro-s continents aud seas 10 maxi
thelf homes. and say that it is The mos
heanfiiul spot God ever made
PIC ure ~ Yourselves the Yiew from
Dihlcys Hill which rises high ana
abrup right over the beach. Directly
toward TIN east is the blue open sea,
little farther TO your right you see i
moving through The trunks Of a beauti-
ful pine grove. farther It'll IL es like
mountain lake, shut IL By distant
Distant Islands mountain tipped. then
turn square around, and SEE Fl to the
south and west green hills. which
carried me back to my dear New
1 Eng and between the hills and
IN mountains which rise against he
whole northern sky. lies santa Barbara
10 the prettiest little basin. as Il jusf
dropped from the clouds. Then turning
slowly around you zee the mountains
dip into the bay which every one say
is another bay OF Naples. / saw the
sunset from this hill one night. and
all the hills and mountains north aud
west were transmitted into clear
amethyst. Between those ranges our
TO sea, the great moon rose with h
purple veil over its face into a pink
sky, and all the waters between u
we're heliotrope and pearl.
Go where you will IN santa Barbara
or In it's vicinity for many miles. and
you are delighted with constantly
changing panorama Of views. grand,
OF picturesque, and increasingly
beautiful. | never saw such giant
hydrangeas as here. This native Of the
far East, China and japan, which We
shelter In flower pots in Maine. grows
IN Santa Barbara mise or ten feet high,
and as wide, and is covered with enor-
nous blossoms prOportioned 10 is
SIZE | could write book on this one
town, and 1t is so hard to know what
to omit, for it is impossible to do Justice
to the place in less than volume, and
that volume should be written by d
poet, and illustrated by Emeking and
Harry Brown.
One Of the ovliest views ia from the
old Mission two miles and half back
from the water, and $50 feet above II.
IL has been said that those old Spanish
fathers never failed to find the fiuest
site for their Church, aud it is true
The Santa Barbara Mission lies right
at the base Of long brown foot hill
covered with huge gray bouiders; back
OF II rise the mountains. and from its
towers the country sweeps away with
a space and maguiicance, a repose and
grandeur which recalls old Spain itself
TO many who have had an opportunity
to compare the two, hills on the south
slumbering city in the middle distance.
aud the sparkling Pacific against the
/ horizon.
The old mission building was erected
: over one hundred Years ago by the
franciscan friars; it Is of gray stone.
its walls six feet thick, and its steps
worn by many feet whose traces terrpt
the imag alton to linger in the remote
and poetic past. The winding stair
case leading to the towers from whose
tops is seen the view Just described s
almost dark, the steps are TWO feet
high, and II is an uncanny place TO enter
alone. IL one does not come down
/ before the hours for showing visitors
are over, one will be locked up there.
heard a lady tell monk that her
daughter got locked in once, TO which
he blandly, very blandly replied, Yes.
I that happens sometimes His manner
was as oily as an old salad bottle. but
there was look in bis eyes which Wa
more like the Euemy than the Virgin
Mary. There is still quite an order OF
st. Francis there; and their pictures
+ with bare sandaled feet. cowls, rope
, girdles. towsered heads, their old Span.
] ish building with its towers, arches
and columns with its many sacred
relics, ana withal their ancient customs
2 easily transport us to medieval times
and we breath the atmosphere OF cen.
turtles long gone, with all the bonds
aud shackles of those oppressive ages
| went into the old yard where 5000
. good Catholics were buried, three deep.
and where lowered lfe-szed et1igy OF
a dying Jesus wrthing upon a great
white cross. An old friar assured me
that 1t was very pleasant walking
there at dusk; but | thought that
twilights, the crucifxion, and five
thousand ghosts must be anything but
cheerful company. On each side OF the
outer doorway leading from the church
into this city of the dead, are engraved
deaths heads and cross bones, and
just under them President Mckinley
stood last spring and had his picture
taken.
Monticito is a large tract of country
adjacent to Santa Barbara, in fact a
part of IT,, covering eight or ten square
miles and containing many beautiful
homes. These are long distances apart
hidden from the street by luxuriant
tropical vegetation, and with great
groves Of the magnificent live-oak trees
between them. We have this beautiful
tree in Pasadena, but they have woods
of them in Santa Barbara, and thus il
is draped with that beautiful gray moss
which tourists from Florida rave over
so much. These homes shelter people
who not only are very rich, but very
cultured, who have been everywhere
worth going and whose homes are
museums of all the artistic wealth
which they have picked up in their
travels. AT Monticito they live in a
truly English seclusion, though mixing
in Santa Barbara society. The Misses
Moore who have lived there so long
(school friends of my mothers, and
ralariVps of sODp SEouhauan on6