Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 July 1895 — In Southern California. [ARTICLE]

In Southern California.

There is nothing here to remind one of winter except the enow-crowned mountains—the mighty uplift of the Sierras. The broad river glides past grass-lined banks and nodding flowers. The hills are clothed in summer garments, the great orange orchards hold ripening harvests. The brown vineyards are bursting into leaf, and the gardens are richer than Eastern conservatories in the gay coloring of bud and flower. Like a vast billowy eea of green stretch the long, wide valleys. The merry beetle crawls amid the white sands. The ants are building their hills, and the gopher eyes them from bis hole. The soft breezes come laden with the scent of rose gardens and lily patches, and like a crimson banner the bright poinsetta sways to and fro In the tremulous air. From their lowly beds the violets look up open-eyed, holding the breath of summer fragrance. The winds are hushed, the sky is a tender azure which clouds but seldom come to mar. Dawns break in crimson glory, and sunsets melt In gold and purple splendor. The white snow of orange blooms is falling upon the orchards. The pink rain of fallen rose leaves Is drooping on the sward. Bird calls to bird from tree-top to tree-top, and we feel the pulse of summer athrob in climbing vines, In fragrant amaranth, and all the beautiful, blossoming, smiling world upon our shores. And this is a California winter. A department store in city has rented an old, unused church edifice, and has converted it into a riding academy for purchasers of the especial makes Of wheels in which the firm deals.