Los Angeles herald., 1908-04-12

manner and whole appearance strucl
| enc as exceedingly finical and yet il
! TO degree ludicrous character he ha
apparently. avoided portraying in hi
! hooks His enunciation was possibl.
more D&ecise than could be expected
in onY who had written so much an,
i'll sIch haste. His dialect would b,
! Ie1ognized as English, but there wal
little of the Johnny Bull about him
! either in manner or diction. Wher
not known Mr.. Dickens might hav
been taken for an American, or perhap
more likely Frenchman. In fact
! thought him about as odd a character
as any he had ever drawn from his
fruitful imagination"
The following paragraphs from the
many devoted TO Los Angeles and
Southern California will give a taste
or the arthor's descriptive powers:
Queen of the Angels
In 1856 the pueblo of the Queen of
the Angels had but barely begun to
assume the aspect of an American
city. 1t still presented many indica-
lions of Its earlier civilization Adobe
residences were common and zanjas, or
water bitches, were encountered in va
rious directions. Where the elegant
Baker block now stands was long,
low, tile-covered adobe structure, flush
with the street, occupied as d home by
Don Abel Stearns and his beautiful
and accomplished Castilian wife. The
water for the town was supplied from
the Los Angeles river, by a large zanja,
brimming full which crossed Main
street above the Plaza, and. winding
It's way down, not far from the line of
that stret, supplied water for domestic
use as we'll as irrigation.
There was then no conspicuous
building in Los Angeles unless the
Round house may be an exception.
That was a one-story octagonal wooden
structure, with a high, cone shaped
roof, located far out Of town as the
town then was, near where Main street
Is intersected by Third. But In a more
central part of the place, on Los An
geles street. was a somewhat preten-
Lious tWo-stOry structure Of red bricks. |
IN the unfinished upper story of which |
A ball was given during my visit. 1t |
was attended by all the gay people of |
the city. The music and dancing par
took of the characteristics of the two |
and reflected credit upon |
both.
while the town still had marked |
Mexican features, a transformation was |
in progress. Quite a sprinklng of
Americans and Europeans had settled
here, and among them were a goodly |
number of citizens Of the most sterling
worth, such men as Abe Stearns, J. ]. |
Warner, Mathew Keller. l.. j. Rose, /
Henry Hancock and D. b. Wilson. /
whose acquaintance l then made and |
with all of whom | corresponded while /
in the senate. There were, also, COM
nendable for their patriotism. J. J. /
Wolfskn, J. S. Mallard, Consul Nor
naux, j. G. DoWney, o. w. Childs, IL
D. Barrows. the Picos, Andreas and
Pho; J. f. Burns, Caspar Cohen, Fran
cisco Lopez, J. J. Garlic, sr.. II. J.
Newmark and others not now called
10 mind. 1t will hardly be believed how
few and far between the settlers.
whether Spanish or American, were
forty years ago in all the stretch Of
country round about Los Angeles. For
miles and miles in every direction ex-
cept toward San Gabriel mission
hardly a human habitation could be |
found. There were no improved roads, |
and nothing like "A seaside resort any
where along the coast. At the present /
site Of Santa Monica not a house or
even a tree was to be seen"
Early Day Writers
Here are some choice descriptions of
Early day writer's:
California, in pioneer days, devel-
,ped a number of able newspaper writ
ers. They were all young men, and
Ome of them eventually achieved
vide literary fame particularly in the
humorous line. OF newspaper men,
1asserly and Sargent have already
,een mentioned, and I may add the
lames of Frank Soule, b. F.. Avery,
ohm Nugent, Edward Gilbert. b. r.
Washington, the genial and sarcastic
frank PiXley, and the bcllicose VIII
lam Walker. of filibustcr notoriety.
he latter was small man, Of norid
extremely reticent and re-
ervcd ln manners. lie was a fit rep