The Tucumcari news and Tucumcari times. [volume] (Tucumcari, N.M.) 1907-1921, 1917-11-01
TINE pilgrims to Canterbury
walk upon n way polished by
the feet of history and rich
I'm nm atmosphere of ma les

y Nsssf t''r
walk upon n way polished by
the feet of history and rich
In an atmosphere Of males
tic antiquity. Association with Roman,
Briton. Pict. Scot, Dane, Cclt and Nor
man has clothed IL with personality,
clarifying what would otherwise be
mere geographical locality, and the
drawn to II as the dividing point be-
tween paganism and Christianity to
the English-spcaklng world.
But IL we of today were to walk
upon the historic highway in the far
West, called FL Canine Real, we could
when the b.Own-rOhcd FranCiscans
went forth and back upon II, trcadlng
the tender grass of winter or raising
the golden dust-clouds of summer, be-
cause that way Is hard.pavcd today,
and the pilgrims dream would be sad
~ broken by the lodging of the auto
mobiles which have cluimcd the way
as Il personal possession, writes Necia
Marquis in the Los Angeles Times.
But to the automobiles who has n
mind for TIE past us well as an eye for
the present, there IS n wealth of charm
the milc.post bells, particularly in
travelling from Los Angeles to San
Diego, at the roads very beginning.
It was cool and deliclously foggy
when we left Los Angeles, soon after
eight o'clock. and II of the first sur
prises, when We reached the real coun-
try, was to find the air sweet with
the fragrance of orange blossoms and
roses. | had fancied the orange trees
not yet In flower, and the roses very
largely gone for II while, but acres of
both were there to confound me. Dahl
ias almost us big as cabbages
nodded their gorgeous crimson and
magenta heads from country door
yards, and In a bOwerlike river bed
we saw n 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 off
by golden hedges Of wild mustard and
sunflowers. At intervals all along the
road the rose racks set up by an en-
terprising public spirit We're often full
of bloom, mostly with the warm'scent-
ed Ragged Robins" of velvety Grim
son.. We even met II country girl driv-
ing, who, having the pretticst of pink
faces and being dressed in pink, look
ed like n DuchcSSc rose herself.
To San Juan capistrano.
We crossed the great San Joaquin
ranch through miles of small. golden
bean stalks, which shaded into dis.
tances of amber against the bluc.veiled
hills. II looked as II II had taken Us
many MeXicans as are enlisted with
villa to rake those stacks into such
gcometrically spaced order.
In the hill country beyond. the rich
brown of tarweed, whose sweet pun,
gency filed the air with healing, whole,
some balm, covered all the landscape,
and exquisitely subtle cclcrs Were
brought out under the cloud-mottled
sky. Ever and again the black.green
Of eucalyptus clunps made picture.
like effects against the tawny fields.
Faith, this was a long road, and less
varied, when the padres trod 1t In the
olden time!
1t was down a canyon dotted with
great sycamores that we finally came
upon the artist-haunted ruins of Mis-
sion San Juan Capistrano.
This spot Is crassly modern com
pared with really ancient things, yet
II has Its own atmosphere of relative
antiquity. never have sazed on the
pyramids or the Sphinx. st. Peters
ut Rome, Notre Dame and St. Mar.
tins at Canterbury are, so far, only
names and pictures to me-. Even Ply
mouth Rock Is very remote In personal
association ms well as distance. But
my latent reverence for the finger.
marks Of time and the monuments TO
human ideals came up ut sight of these
slngularly quaint and beautiful re-
mains of n period rich In romance
and devout dreams on this golden
western slope.
Beauties Of the Ruins.
Pomegranate trees and dusty red
geraniums grew In front of the ruined
walls rising against the pale blue Of
a MONDAY sky. Where the whitewash
was gone, the ruins were u rich golden