Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-05-19
METHODIST
CONFERENCE
INTERESTING LETTER FROM AN
IOWA WOMAN DELEGATE TO
BIG Los. ANGELES
MEETING.
THE CITY OF FLOWERS

Mrs. Anna Lee Mahin Describes the
Sights and Scenes at the Confer.
ence and About the City - Distin-
guished Personages in Attendance.
by Mrs. Anna Lee Mahin, Special
Representative Of the Courier at the
Methodist General Conference.l
Los Angeles, CAL, May 9.
In trying to write to the home
friends something of the great confer
ence Of the Methodist church now in
session in this wonderful city of Los
Angeles, SO much crowds upon my
thoughts and pen that the first i'm
pulse is to give up the effort altogeth-
er, especially as 1 have been COMPEL
ed to deny myself a delightful excur-
sion to some interesting points which
all visitors are expected to see in or
der to have a quiet hour or two in my
rooms for writing this article.
The glorious sunshine is pouring in
to my room through all the windows,
and on my table are several dozen of
roses, such roses! of tints Of crimson
pink, yellow, cream, white and deepest
scarlet; also a great cluster of car
nations, both white and a rich, deep
red. Just outside my window look
upon a garden where are blooming in
richest 9profusion great beds of Gala
lilies, geraniums, yellow and red pop
pies, sweet peas, mignonette, pinks,
nasturtiums and many other varieties
of flowers, some of which have never
seen before.
Oranges and lemons are more COM
mon here than are apples with us, and
the orchards of trees bearing them
are something never to be forgotten,
after once seeing them.
Started From Chicago.
But I commenced this letter with
the thought of telling my friends
about this great conference Of the
Methodist Episcopal church, which
has brought many hundreds of people
here. at this time. My own special
delegate" and I left Chicago on the
evening of April 20, taking No. 1 on
the Santa Fe route. We left the sta
ton at 10 o'clock at night and saw
but little Of our travelling companions
until next morning. when we found
them a company Of most genial and
entertaining people - nearly all like
ourselves. were going to the confer
ence. Among them were several not
ed men of the church, and almost ey-
cry part Of the country east of Chi
cago was represented; but to myself
at least the most interesting of all
were clergyman and his wife from
southern India, who had gone from
England when young people, and had
been engaged in missionary work for
fourteen years. They had come from
that far distant land to attend this
general conference of the church. They
won all hearts by their dignified bear.
ing. their devotion to their work and
their beautiful faith in the ultimate
winning of all people to the Christian
religion. Our Pullman was one of the
finest in the service and all the tour.
lists in the car voted our conductor the
most courteous, attentive and thought
full official they had ever met The
trip from Chicago to Los Angeles was
one of entire comfort and unalloyed
pleasure, none of our company stop.
ping over at any point. but all coming
directly through. must not take the
time or space to tell of interesting
and novel sights and experiences en-
route, but certain it is, we found it
anything but monotonous.
rhe,oh$f,,I Da,aAk;11
When we reached San Bernardino
on Tuesday morning, we were met by
the committees who had been sent out
from Los Angeles with boxes of or
anges and flowers for the delegates
From this place to the end of our trip
it is like garden of Eden. We pass
through North and South Pasadena
and for miles there are orange and
lemon groves, laden with fruit on eth.
er side Of our track.
At Los Angeles we found hundreds
of people, waiting to welcome the in.
coming visitors. They all seemed to
be carrying their arms full of what
looked to us like hot house flowers
only they were larger and finer and
more richly colored than any we had
ever seen before The station itself
was decorated with palms and ferns
and the word Welcome wrought out
in immense floral letters. A commit
tee of ladies was stationed here for
days to extend greeting and to offer
bouquets of roses. carnations etc, to
the delegates and so we crowded tc
our respective hotels with our floral
badges, somewhat tired and travel
worn but all happy and delighted with
the cordial greetings given us.
Our immediate little party soon found
itself comfortably established at the
Hotel Fremont. most commodious
and popular hosiery, very near the
great pavilion where the conference
was to be held. We find friends here
who have been spending the entire
winter and their reports of the places