The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1918-02-13
MADISON WOMAN WRITES
OF LIFE In The WEST
Mrs. GieSner Brooks Gives Interest
ing Account Of Trip From WASH
Z ingtOn To Texas.

The following letter is from Mrs
GleSnOr Brooks, to 4 friend at Madi-
son. Mrs. Brooks formerly lived at
Madison, but for several months has
made her home in Raymond, Wash
ingtpn where her husband was en-
gagged in government work. Mr..
Brooks has recently been transferred
10 Beaumont, Texas and the letter
describes her trip from Washington
to Texas:
You asked ME about Western
people, customs and expressions.
They are quite different from East
ern ones. Raymond was made up OF
people from every State in the I'm
ion, Canada, Wales, and England, so,
of course. they did not all talk alike
At first | would have to think just
what they meant by their express
Sions. and they pronounced their
! words so differently.
The majority of the people were
( from the Northwestern States, where
/ it was very cold, and they thought
the warm, rainy climate just delight
ful. When Mr.. Brooks received the
telegram that he had this appoint
ment we were almost ready to go
East, and l felt sure that we would
eat Christmas dinner in Maryland,
for the rain had almost worried Mr..
Brooks sick. It rained every day
for three hours. a perfect doWnpour,
and blew a gale with it. Every day,
q month before we left, he went to
work with long oil leggins, rubbers.
gum coat and gum hat, and then
came home wet at noon and at sup
per time.
The rain did not make one sick
at all and the air felt SO fresh and
different from rainy days in the East |
If it was clear early in the morning, |
it rained that day, but if cloudy or
IOggy, the sun came out. Raymond |
was entirely surrounded by high
hills and was built on tide flats The |
hills and woods were beautiful. 1t |
was virgin forest, where black bears |
roamed, and cougars were plentiful. |
Last night We saw a picture of Mt !
Rainier, and l felt homesick for |
those hills.
We left Raymond early Sunday |
morning. There had been several |
washouJs because of the heavy rains,
and all along the way the roads |
were covered with water for miles, |
and in some Of the houses it was
foot deep. Oh, those Washington
and Oregon woods were beautiful
the grass so green, and great beds of |
beautiful ferns, so green and fresh |
looking. The tree limbs were COW
cred with green moss. Some trees |
were uprooted and the network of |
roots was covered with moss. The |
rain, Of course, followed US down to
California. We stopped six hours |
at Portland, Oregon. That long,
new, white marble Columbia High
way running along the Columbia is
just magnificent. We walked around
town, ate supper in an Italian res
taurant, went to Y. NJ c. A, and |.
inquired for Methodist Church.
- We i lad some Tine LsfoI -
church, we went to- the Portiandi
hotel to rest. The place is beautiful,
ferns and flowers growing all over it,
and out in the square we saw lovely
pink roses in bloom. They have so
much rain there that the roses are
as large as saucers. You know that
it is called the Rose City, and every !
June they have a carnival. When
we left Raymond the sweet peas
We're still in bloom. Portland has
wide, smooth streets, fine department
stores, and public buildings. The
names of the streets are written in
the corners of the cement pave
ments.
We went by one meat market,
where there were, I'm sure, so
beeXes, dressed, hanging up from the
walk. They were decorated.
couldn't tell you how many lambs,
hogs, great, large salmon, poultry,
crabs, large enough to make six per
sons a meal; Holsters, clans, etc,
there We're. One can buy any cut
of beef there for 15c. a pound. Liy-
ing is much cheaper in the West.
EARLY Tuesday morning we were
in California. When we got to Ber-
necia our train was put on in sec
lions, on tn elargest boat (ferry) in
the world, and sailed across the
strait to Porta Casta. The conduc
tor told us to not miss going down
on the boat, and so we watched thru
the fog for the other side The tide j
was low and that immense pier had /
to be lowered so the train could go
from the boat to land. Bernecia Y
was once the capital and oldest {
town. 1t now has the largest Gov
eminent tannery in the country.
In two hours We were in Oak {
land We checked our suit cases
and took a ferry boat across the San I
Francisco Bay to Frisco. The boat Y
goes across every 20 minutes and is
incense, and always crowded. We
went thru the shopping district, and
would have bought some Xmas
gifts, but we were tired and the |
crowd was SO great that We took q 1
car and did" the town.
There has never been but six {
SHOWS in San Francisco, and the l
are often colder than the
winters. The women all thru the c
men sitting on the back seat. We
is three miles long and one-half c
mile wide, and goes down to the Pa '
cific. There are all kinds Of shade [
trees, but most of them are eucalyp
-ic trees, which shed their bark and y
keep their green leaves. Children '
and their nurses were playing on the
grass. There were elk, deer, buffa I
10, bears, squirrels, and ponds with t
hundreds of ducks (Wild) on them. i
Mr.. Brooks thought he would like to i
De able to kill a few. He said,
Frisco is good enough for me-
We rode up to the Cliff House, d
where we could see the Golden Gate, h
and they took pictures of the tour
ing ear. Children were wading in
The ocean, ladies sitting on the sand
under parasols, and it didn't seem
possible that II was winter. The
ocean was very peaceful, There
were large rocks on which hair
bearing seals come up to rest. We
saw the fair grounds and the large
hotels and buildings all looking so
now. We could not stay until night, c
and | was disappointed, because L /
couldn't see Chinatown. We went to {
the Palace Hotel. 1t Is the largest t
building | think | was ever in. For |
supper we had oysters, the first we
had had since we left dear old Mary t
land. took Seattle oysters, and T
Mr.. Brooks Eastern ones, to see {
inh no -