The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-02-14
SOME NEW BOOKS.
California in Intimate Narrative.


has its marvels of fruit growth for
every taste, including grapes beyond
the Eshcol standard. Ii Is beyond the
need Of Dragging; the material truth
must be edited or run the risk of
mcndacty. critical test Is the at
tempt OF the Californian to report to
his Eastern friends that the hello
trope grows so high that the flowers
may he pluckcd at a second story
window. Tns Californians. native sons
ana native daughters each decorated
with n tiny grizzly bear fetch, are a
community apart. They do the things
that many wish they had the ,~"'r-
age to venture upon. do them as in
hercnt in their birthrlght and a birth
right not vendibe for a mess OF pot
tage. II IL such "A community as
could solemnly debate IN the Legisla-
ture the addition Of a new county. the
opposition maintaining that a State
which had ffty-two counties had all
that the deck was entitled to, opposi-
ton at last overcome when the pro-
poDents of the measure put the per-
tintnt question. But what about the
joleer?" This in a session Of the Leg
islature whose roll call was aptly
aided by such nominalism as Shana-
han of Shasta followed briefly by Yell
OF Yolo
The only way to deal with such
community is intimately. as has been
done by Mrs. GERTRUDE ATHERToH in
California. an Intimate HISTORY (Har-
per & Brothers). 1t is really very
personal, very intimate in acquaint-
ance with the individuals whose
names are great i'm Californian his
tory and whose greatness has in some
measure crossed the Sierras. She Is
abundantly qualified for the writing
OF such a history. for the writing OF
this history. Daughter of a native
son. granddaughter Of pioneers, Who
played their part as Argonauts, ac-
quainted from childhood with the dis
tinguished men OF the not remote
past which is practically all that Cal
ifornia has. playmate with the most
OF those who now stand in honor in
her native state. she writes at pleas
ant length her knowledge.
The tide of travel is just beginning
toward California for this year OF
double exposition. 1t is fair to expect
books protesting to tell the story Of
the Golden state. The geography is
satisfactorily disposed of in a distich
commonly heard on the Pacific Coast,
the melody of some unhonored rhap-
sodist:
From Siskiyou to San Diego.
From Sierra to the sea.
Various departments of government
may be expected to provide the statis-
tics of horticulture and vticulture
for those who feel the need of some
thing more than fruit the year around
and wine that maketh glad the heart
OF man. 1t may he possible to tabu-
late the climate for those meteorolog-
ically inclined and perhaps to convince
them that health Is improved by that
which happens in San Francisco in
the middle Of the afternoon, a phenom-
enon which mere meteoro.oglsts might
incline to call clammy fog. For the
to.Tra! history .: tho state recourse
will still be had to Hittell and to the
encyclopedia Bancroft. But no one
Is better qualified TO write the per-
scnal history of the State, the present
State as the resultant of the ambitions
and frank service of the men who
have made the community virile and
filled with civic personality.
History opens for California with
the peaceful conquest Of the missions
spreading from Mexico. This activity
is little more than century old, yet
in a land where events have passed
with extraordinary rapidity the days
OF Junipero Sierra are veritable Mid
die Ages, with the advantage that
many of the events are within the
scope of young tradition. In this
there resides a possible disadvantage
the judgment Of the present may be
found yet too close to the event Ia
secure the philosophic tone Of toler-
ance which should characterize his
tory. In dealing with this period
Bancroft exercises no critical faCul.
les, he is content with presenting
1very last scrap of documentary rec
ord which his research and command
OF material resources has been able
to unearth, In like manner the eccle-
siak;tical history of the rise and fal
OF the missions Is scantily critical anC
for the most part encomiastic. Mrs
sloners as discoveries and settlers she
is ready to acknowledge the deb
which Is the due of those who tool
California out of the realm Of Anna,
zonian fable and established 1t upor
the maps of tho world. The poin
AT which she becomes critical Of thest
Jealous settlers is their treatment o
the Indian population,
Here We have to deal with no mat.
ter OF doctrine. That a certain
method of dealing with the aborigi.
nal inhabitants came into practice
has in itself nothing 10 do with th'
rule of Saint Francis as such. 1t /;
only that these Franciscans wer,
the only men of education in a rud,
community, which gave them access L
the most generally approved plan.
for the betterment of savage races
The fault lay in the ideas Of soca
service. The system which wa
adopted in California had already
been developed as a community il
Paraguay, whose only purpose wa
the amelioration of children of per
dition. At the same time the treat
ment of the Indians by British
settlers in eastern America was no
marked by such consideration anC
Kindness as to set an unfavorabl,
standard of comparison. In fact III,
I'ranCiscanS nf Alta California uar,