Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-05-12
COLONY OF THE RICH
RedIands, CAL, Composed of
Homes of the Wealthy.
AMONG ORANGE GROVES
Two Men Who Might Have Been the
Cheeryble Brothers.
CANYON CREST PARKS BEAUTY
Cluster Of Lovely Towns in River
side county-Population Of the
City About 1900.
AMONG ORANGE GROVES
CANYON CREST PARKS BEAUTY

|
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence Of The Star and the
| Chicago Record-Herald.
| RDDLANDS. Cal. May 5. 1911.
| Redlands is an idyll Of peace and pros
perity, rest and happiness bound in green
and gold. The gold comes Off like gilt
on other bindings but is shipped to
market like the ore from the mines. The
green is everlasting, and in the spring
time. when the throughts Of young men
and women lightly turn to love, it is
Illuminated with bridal flowers and the
air Is filled with the perfume. That is
one of the greatest charms Of the orange
country-to have the flowers follow the
fruit. and in many orchards they appear
at the same time. I have said before and
will never be tired of saying that an
orange grove. with the blossoms and the
fruit mingled on the same tree with the
| lustrous leaves, Is the most beautiful
display of foliage that can be seen any
where. The consideration Of the fruit
in lingering so long, so that the farmers
can have all the time they want to pick
| and pack and ship 1t, contributes more
than inexperienced people can appreciate
to the convenience and the prosperity OF
the population. The orange is g. prolonged
harvest. Picking begins early in Novem-
| Der and lasts until June according to the
variety Of the orange. Some Of the trees
are fast and others are slow. like the
people that own them and the consumer
as well as the producer ought to be
grateful for that fact.
| One Of the most astonishing things one
hears and sees In this land of miracles Is
the enormous increase in the production
1 IS C&y Ia
calculation convicts every man, woman
and child among our ninety millions OF
| population OF consuming several dozens,
but 1t Is fruit of which nobody can
eat too much. You never heard of man
being any the worse for eating oranges.
and there Is no limit to the capacity of
some Of the tourists who come out here.
! Then again there Is no more wholesome
or refreshing fruit. and benedcent Prov
idence has placed 1t In tropical climates,
where it Is needed most. The apple is a
valuable and popular fruit and the peach
has many admirers. God doubtless
might have made better berry than the
strawberry, but God doubtless never did"
And other products Of the garden and
the orchard are unmixed blessings to
mankind. but none of them has so many
points Of merit as the orange.
There will be a difference Of opinion on
| this subject. no doubt, and everybody Is
entitled to his preference. 1 was fishing
| down the Potomac river one day with
| Daniel H. Burnham and Charles NJ Nc
| Kim, when a discussion arose as to which
| was the most valuable of the finny king
dom. Mr.. Burnham. coming from the re-
| gion Of the great lakes, insisted that the
whiteish was the best Of all; Mr.. Nc
| Kim. coming from New England, pro-
| humber member Of the party argued in
favor OF the salmon. until we agreed to
leave the decision to Uncle, Joshua. q wise
Old negro. who owned and manned the
boat Uncle Joshua IL q diplomatist. but
has never been deprived Of his opinion.
and after hearing the arguments summed
up his judgment as follows:
The whiteash am de greatest fish dat
ever was, l reckon. And de Goldfish is
| jest as good, but mebbe the sammon Is
| the best Of 'em all, 'scusin' the shad."
And that would be the Judgment Of
every Californian on the orange.
Cluster Of Lovely Towns.
There is cluster of lovely towns in
| Riverside county. but 1 am afraid to
enumerate them for fear I might leave
| one Of them out. They are all hidden in
| orange groves. wreathed in world of
| blossom, foliage and color. but each has
| Its own individuality. They share the
same sunlight. the same delicious atmos-
phere and the same background Of noun
| tains tipped with eternal snow. Much are
| the rocks and mach is the sand. and the
wind sometimes sweeps around rugged
angles, but nature has erected an eterAa al
screen to protect those who dwell in this
delightful corner Of the world against itA
violence. And the desert and the noun
tains work together like conscientious
friends. The snow and the rain which
fall upon their submits feed the rivers
| that irrigate the orchards and drive the
wheels Of the great dynamos Of the cleo
trio plans In the canyon. The desert re-
fleets the sunshine and absorbs the moist
| ure from the atmosphere to make it pure
and Dry and healing to tender threats
| distance away. One can see 1t from the
mountain side whenever he has energy
enough to climb. During the hot months
| OF summer the sea breezes bring both a
winter they soften the chilly current
from the mountains and prevent frost.
The motor car has made life easier to
people who live among the orange groves
acres and to lengthen the drives about
| their grounds. The rocky foothills are
| more easily climbed with rubber tires
and gasoline than with painting horses.
and even Mr. Smiley has bought an auto
mobile; He never would use one be-
fore. He has always frowned upon that
new tangled form Of locomotion and has
forbidden automobiles to enter his
| ground. Perhaps / ought to explain that
Mr.. Smiley Is the patron saint of Red
lands and Lake Mohonk.
Models for Cheeryble Brothers.
He and his twin brother, Alfred Smiley,
might have sat as models for the CHEEKY
BILE Brothers, the twins. merchants,
Charles and Edward, the generous phi
lanthropists. the simple-minded. noble
hearted men, who were the patrons of
Nicholas Nickleby. 1t is understood that
Dickens characters are portraits of twin
brothers named Grant, who were cotton
manufacturers at Manchester in his time.
Alfred H. and Albert X. Smiley were
horn NJ Quaker ma renfaHo nm tho 18th