The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1915-06-30
A Trip to California
Mrs. Rogers Writes Interestingly OF Jour-
ney Across Continent and OF Panama
Pacific Exposition.

For the pleasure of my friends
who may enjoy reading of our trip
West, I am writing this account. 1t
has always been a puzzle to me why
people who travel should want to 60
to Europe before seeing the many
grand sights in our own country. l
can not describe everything for lack
of space and adequate phrases. 1
shall relate a few commonplace
things.
NV husband and 1 left Abbevllle
Nav 18th on No. 5 on the Seaboard
for Atlanta. We had only 80 min
utes to make connection with the A.
& W. P. train No. 81, which leaves
the Terminal Station. This is the
New York and New Orleans Limited,
a millionaires train of solid Pull
MANS. We had lower berth No. 9
and the name of our a vas "Mau-
rapas."
New Orleans.
We arrived in New Orleans the
next morning at ten minutes to eight.
It was an ideal day as to weather.
Among the sights we saw was an old
Catholic Church built in 1794-one
man gave the money for its construc-
ton with the agreement that prayers
were to be offered once a week for
his soul as long as the church stood;
the French Market-which is similar
to the ones in Charleston and Sa-
vannah; all the foreign quarters
and the City Park which they claim
to be the largest in the South. Two
oak trees were pointed out as being
the place where all the duels were
fought in olden times, another as
"Suicide Oak" where 16 persons
had committed suicide in the last IL
years. One peculiar thing about
the cemeteries in this city is all the
people are buried on top of the
ground, on account of the water be-
ING so near the surface. Vaults are
used. We decided we had seen as
much of New Orleans as we cared to
so we left that night for Longview,
Texas, over the T. &. P. A daugh-
ter of my fathers sister, lives at this
place and we wanted to spend a few
hours with her. She will be remem-
bered by many as Mary McQuiston,
having attended the Due West Fe-
male College when Prof. Todd was
President. Her husbands name is
j. G. White. Her little daughter,
Jessie May, was away on a school
picnic so we didn't get to see her.
Ell Paso.
Leaving Longview at 3.43 Friday
afternoon we reached FL Paso Of ten
o'clock Saturday night. "Welland"
was the name Of our car. Two young
women got on at Dallas. We en-
joyed making their acquaintance.
Mrs. Mason Wright and Mrs. William
Berkowatz and little five weeks ;l1
baby. Mrs. Berkowatz has been in
America only six years, coming here
from the border between Germany
and Russia, where it costs only ten
cents to go from her home to Russia.
The Pullman conductor was a most
pleasing man. He seemed to delight
in pointing out the interesting views
to be seen. One mountain we
watched for hours. 1t looked as if
q q sc Quoillils VI DlOOo liou bCSIl
poured over its top. We thought it
was just a short distance from the
railroad but it was really 35 miles
away.
Ell Paso is a city Of something over
eighty thousand inhabitants. The
streets are wide and we'll kept but
there is a noticeable scarcity of trees.
1t is well lighted at night. We en-
joyed walking around looking at the
people, in the store windows and the
electric signs. All the saloons are
open until nine o'clock on Saturday
nights. The sign was frequently
seen Remember Dry Arizona" but
we forgot until it was too late to
buy anything to satisfy our "thirst."
We took a Jitney Bus and went out
to n of the principal parks and
1oana~4 o J4