The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1916-01-20
"reminiscences of
Western Travels
BY HELEN NJ. TODD.
VIII.
Santa Barbara.


at Santa Barbara, where we had planned
to spend the day. Our first concern was
for hotel and breakfast, both of which
We found quite to our satisfaction, in
the Hotel Arlington. This is a thorough
ly delightful place, with its big, low
rooms arched into one another with
wide, open doorways, a style of archi-
lecture very a. tistic, and eminently
suited to the mild climate of Santa Bar
bars. but which would be quite unsatis
factory in chilly New England, mag
inc. From its wide, shaded verandas
with then inviting longing chairs, one
looked out into a pleasant garden, be-
vond which the traffic of the town could
be seen, but hardly realized. The man
ager' 5 wife caught me admiring one OF
the many bowls of great red roses with
which the rooms were filled, and would
have presented me the whole bunch had
l only had place to put them. They
had been gathered yesterday, she said,
and although not in the least faded
would nevertheless have to be thrown
away to make room for the fresh blooms
that would spoil in the gardens unless
gathered. To New Highlander it SEEM
&c a wicked waste of precious roses, and
told her so as l gladly accepted as
many as l could possibly wear.
As soon as an auto could be procured,
We started on the Mountain Drive to
Montecito, out past the cd Mission and
up into The foothills behind the city,
whence We could get splendid views of
mountains and seacoast. These, com
bjned with the novel sight of lemon and
olive groves. ana the miliionaires' resi-
dences in their semi-tropical settings,
made this drive one long to be remem-
berea. We went through Montecito,
and back to Santa Barbara by way of
the Oceau Drive, passing Miramar, a
hotel resort consisting of separate bun
galows, with q central dining hall, all
covered with flowers and facing the sea.
WITH Ch4 mountains bebind. A more
beautiful ard picturesque place could
hardly he imagined. On our way we
ua-5 visit aIao te the Gillespie estate,
FL Fureidjs, [le grounds Of which were
oper t. the public. We roamed about
here for half hour or more, adinjring
particularly the effect of the sunken
italian gardens, where we took several
pictures before returning to the Airing
ton in tim5 for lunch. On cur way back
We were confronted with evidences that
life in Santa Barbara is not always all
roses ard sunshine, as our chauffeur
pointed out to US the remaining traces
of the devastating effect produced by
terrific cloud-burst year or so aga.
In The afternoon we took the trolley
out TO the old Mission, a mile or so
away, or a hill behind the city. This
Mission was founded in 1856, one of
chain Of twenty-ore Missions belonging
to the Franciscan Brotherhood under the
leadership of Father Junipero Sierra.
1t is the best preserved of all of the
California Missions, and is the only one
of them all that has been continuously in
the hands of the Franciscans since its
establishment. The gray towers of the
cid ADOBE building seem to dominate the
town, and It is impossible TO think of
Santa Barbara without its Missions as q !
background. Visitors were admitted at
"a, Io+
We mounted the steps and pulled the |
bell cor3. An aged monk opened the
door, and usheriDg US into little bare
room requested US TO register in the |
visitors book, and to wait until Broth !
er was at liberty to show US about. By |
the time that the monk appeared for that
duty there were fifteen or twenty tourists
assembled and waiting for him. He was
dressed in the costume of his order, a
long brown robe reaching to his heels,
confined by rope girdle from which |
hung cross and bunch of keyes. His
head was tonsured, and his feet bare,
with sandals for protection He took US
dDOAN tI-C 4'iioSOIIi ASNlIAIS no ulSloIy III
a sort OF sing song monotone, that SEEM
I'd somehow reminiscent of chanted
prayers, and exhibited its precious relics,
the oldest OF which dated back to ITS or
whereabouts, and which ranged from
Ceremonial robes and enbroideries to
crude Indian utensils. The very flag
stones in the cloister and walks were
relics of the past and it seemed in walk
ing over them, we could imagine our
selves back in the early days with the
Padres who built their monastery IN
wild, uncivilized country, taught the
savage Indian tribes the arts of basketrv.
weaving blankets and ma king pottery,
and conducted their simple religious
rites in the little chapel with it's beauti-
ful Old paintings on the wall. One real
ized as never before that the California
Of the eighteenth century belonged TO
Spain, and that the heroism and kindly
wisdom of the Franciscan Fathers is in
separably interviewer with its early his
tory. In those days the Indians came
from the hills and camped about the
Mission, the women washed their clothes
in a rude stone trough which still re-