The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1917-11-16

Walk upon way pOllSAcu ny
the feet of history and rich
= in an atmosphere Of majes-
TIC antiquity. Association with Roman,
Briton, Pict, Scot, Dane, Celt and Nor
man has clothed 1t with personality,
clarifying what would otherwise be
mere geographical locality, and the
spirits of humans of all later times are
drawn to it as the dividing point be-
tween paganism and Christianity to
the English-speaking world.
But il we Of today were to walk
upon the historic highway in the far
West, called lei Canine Real, we could
not dream ourselves back into the day
when the brown-robed Franciscans
went forth and back upon it, treading
the tender grass Of winter or raising
the golden dust-clouds of summer, be-
cause that way Is hard-paved today,
and the pilgrims dream would be sad
ly broken by the lodging Of the auto
mobiles which have claimed the way
as a personal possession, writes Meta
Marquis in the Los Angeles Times.
But to the automobilist who has
mind for the past as well as an eye for
the present there is q wealth of charm
to be found on the road marked by
the mile-post bells, particularly in
travelling from Los Angeles to San
Diego, at the roads very beginning.
1t was cool and deliciously foggy
when we left Los Angeles, soon after
~ 81 IF
prises, when we reached the real coun-
try, was to find the air sweet with
the fragrance of orange blossoms and
]aroses. / had fancied the orange trees
Eaot yet in flower, and the roses very
Eargely gone for a while, but acres of
| both were there to confound me. Dahl
las almost as big as cabbages
nodded their gorgeous crimson and
magenta heads from country door
yards, and in a bowerlike river bed
we saw a company of tourists out of
their machines gathering green castor
beans, perhaps under the impression
that they were horse chestnuts.
In the open stretches, the blue dis
lance of fog were artistically set of
by golden hedges of wild mustard and
sunfiowers. At intervals all along the
road the rose racks set up by an en-
,erprising public spirit were often full
of bloom, mostly with the warm-scent
ed Ragged Robins" of velvety Grim
son. We even met a country girl driv
ing, who, having the prettiest of pinl
faces and being dressed in pink, look
ed like Duchesse rose herself.
To San Juan Capistrano.
We crossed the great San Joaquin
ranch through miles of small, COLDER
bean stalks, which shaded into dis
tances of amber against the blue-veile,
hills. 1t looked as If it had taken a
many Mexicans as are enlisted wit
villa to rake those stacks into sue
commercially spaced order.
In the hill country beyond, the ric
brown of tarweed, whose sweet pun
gency filled the air with healing, whole
some balm, covered all the landscape
and exquisitely subtle colors wer
brought out under the cloud-mottle
sky. Ever and again the black-gree
of eucalyptus clumps made picture
like effects against the tawny field
Faith, this was q long road, and les
varied, when the padres trod it in tn
olden timel
1t was down canyon dotted wit
great sycamores that we finally cam
upon the artist-haunted ruins of Mi
sion San Juan Capistrano.
This spot is crassly modern con
pared with really ancient things, y,
il has It's own atmosphere of relatiy
antiquity. l never have gazed on ii
pyramids or the Sphinx. st. Peter
Mt Rome, Notre Dame and st. Ma
: tins at Canterbury are, so far, onl
names and pictures to me. Even Pr
mouth Rock is very remote in person
association as well as distance. 81
7 my latent reverence for the fnge
marks of time and the monuments
, human ideals came up at sight of the!
singularly quaint and beautiful r
mains of period rich in romans
and devout dreams on this goldt
= western slope.
Beauties of the Ruins.
n Pomegranate trees and dusty n
geraniums grew In front of the RUNE
. walls rising against the pale blue
4 d MONDAY sky. Where the whitewal
vas gone, the ruins were a rich gold,