AU REVOIR.
Just as a woman is leaving her friends she ever has the most to chatter
about. How can I say _au revoir_ briefly when there is so much more to
tell? I so earnestly want to give California _en verdad_, or in truth.
There has been too much bragging from the settlers, as in 1887 the Los
Angeles _Herald_ said that "New York would soon be excelled by that
city." There is a general desire to surpass all the rest of the world in
as many ways as possible, and a general belief that it can easily be
done. And visitors have omitted all that was unpleasant, and exaggerated
the good points, so that one Californian speaks "of the dancing
dervishes of travel, singing insanely from the moment they come to us."
There is so much that is novel in this wonderland that it is hard to
keep cool and look at all sides. In 1870 all vegetables and grain were
imported. Mr. Webster declared long ago in Congress that California was
absolutely worthless except for mining and grazing. The rancheros
thought the land only fit for sheep to roam over. Now great train-loads
of vegetables and grain leave daily for the East; all the earliest fruit
of New York, Boston, and Chicago comes from this State, and ships are
carrying all these products to all parts of the world. From north to
south the State measures over 800 miles--as far as from New York to
Florida--with an area of 189,000 square miles--as much as New England
and the Middle States combined, throwing in Maryland. The northern and
southern portions are as unlike as Massachusetts and Florida, and the
State must soon be divided. How little is known of Northern California!
Next year I hope to describe that, with its lofty mountains, wonderful
scenery, lakes of rare beauty, immense interests in grain, fruits, and
mining. This little bit along the coast is but a minute portion of the
whole. I have only followed in the footsteps of the Fathers, and would
like to take you to Monterey, where Junipero Serra founded his last
mission. Mrs. Stanford has placed a statue of the dear old saint on the
shore to honor his life-work. Realizing the size of the State and its
capabilities, big stories seem inevitable. As Talleyrand said of Spain,
"It is a country in which two and two make five."
Some statements need to be modified. It is declared over and over that
here there are no thunderstorms. In the _Examiner_ of May 19th I read:
"Santa Rosa was visited by a very severe electrical storm about eleven
o'clock last night. The sky was brilliantly illuminated by lightning,
and peal after peal of heavy thunder was heard. This was followed by a
rain which continued until near morning." A church steeple was struck by
lightning and destroyed. This is unusual, but for "never" read "hardly
ever." No mad dogs, yet a little terrier I bought in San Francisco to
give to a friend had to be shot its first summer on account of rabies.
Let us balance matters:
No malaria, but rheumatism.
No cyclones, " wind and sand storms.
No thunderstorms, " earthquakes.
No mad dogs, " rattlesnakes and centipedes, tarantulas and
scorpions.
No sunstrokes, " chilling fogs.
All goes when the sun goes. The climate is "outdoors." A sunny room is
essential. The difference between noonday and midnight, temperature
between sun and shade, is something to be learned and guarded against.
Each place is recommended by doctors who have regained their own health
as _the_ place for invalids. What Dr. Edwards says of San Diego is
repeated everywhere else by experts:
"San Diego presents the most even climate, the largest proportion of
fair, clear days, a sandy and absorbent soil, and the minimum amount of
atmospheric moisture--all the factors requisite in a perfect climate."
In each "_peripheral resistances are reduced to a minimum_." Dr.
Radebaugh, of Pasadena, who, I believe, has not the normal amount of
lung but has been restored to health by the air of Pasadena, where he
has a large practice, assures me that, in his candid opinion, "Pasadena
is the greatest all-the-year-round health-resort in the world." Dr.
Isham, of same place, goes into details, and is almost the only
physician I have consulted who acknowledges drawbacks in the Pasadena
climate for those who desire a cure for throat or lungs. "This climate,
like all else here, is paradoxical and contradictory," and he mentions
that the winds blowing from the Pacific are not usually the
rain-bearers, but those blowing from a point directly opposite, and that
the arid desert. Among objectionable features he mentions the "marked
changes of temperature daily, frequent fogs, excess of humidity in
winter owing to protracted rains (thirty inches in five months, from
November, 1892, to March of this year); hot, dry winds that prevail in
summer, with wind and sand storms, which have a debilitating effect on
nervous systems, and are irritating to the mucous membrane."
How refreshing to find one person who does not consider his own refuge
from disease an ideal health-resort! He also owns that doctors do not
know yet how to treat such troubles as bronchitis, as is proven by their
experimenting upon patients in Minnesota, Colorado, Arizona, Florida,
and Pasadena. And he closes his letter in this way:
"When local jealousies have subsided, and contending climates have had
their day, the thing of cardinal importance for an invalid such as you
have mentioned to do when about to change his or her home will be, not
to attach too much importance to this or that particular climatic
condition as determined by the barometer, thermometer, hygrometer,
anemometer, and other meteorological instruments, nor to lay too much
stress on a difference of a few hundred or thousand feet of elevation
above the sea; but choose a home where the environments will afford the
invalid or valetudinarian the greatest opportunity of living
out-of-doors, and of spending the hours of sunshine in riding, driving,
walking, and in other ways, whereby the entrance of pure air into the
lungs is facilitated. In Pasadena the days in winter are warm enough to
make outdoor life attractive and healthful, while the number of sunny
days throughout the year is above the average of that prevailing in many
other deservedly popular health-resorts."
I will also quote a letter received from Dr. W. B. Berry, formerly of
Montclair, N. J., who, coming to Southern California an almost hopeless
invalid, is now fairly well, and will probably entirely regain his
health. He also is careful and conservative in statement, and therefore
commands serious attention:
"Riverside, Cal., May 2, 1893.
"Dear Miss Sanborn: To recommend any place to an invalid is to an
experienced climate-hunter no doubt, at times, a duty,--certainly
it is a duty from which he shrinks.
"One does not see so many advanced cases of pulmonary disease here
as at either Asheville or Colorado Springs. The thousands of miles
of alkali, sage-brush, and desolation might explain that, but it
does seem to me that a much larger proportion of consumptives are
'doing well' in this country than in those.
"_Pure dry air_, _pure water_, and _clean dry soil_ are the
climatic elements essential for the pulmonary invalid, and for most
others. These conditions can be found at Riverside and its vicinity
during a large proportion of the year.
"Here, too, are cool walks, with sunshine or shade, as may be
desired, and things on every side to interest. For, unfortunately,
the man with a sore chest has a brain and a spinal cord to be
stimulated and fed, not to speak of those little heartstrings
undiscovered by the anatomist, and which yet tug and pull mightily
in a far country.
"In short, it would seem that any consumptive in an early stage of
his disease who does not thrive at a moderate altitude would do
well to come here and to stay--that is, if he will remember that
all the climate is out-of-doors."
My own troublesome throat is almost as good as new, and I am proud to
name my physician, _Outdoors, M.D._ Come and consult the same unfailing
restorer.
I have given, according to my humble ability, _la verdad cierta_--the
absolute truth--about the small fraction of the State known as Southern
California.
I came with gargle and note-book, but long ago gave up the former; and
as for these jottings, I offer them to those who want to see this
much-talked-of Earthly Paradise as in a verbal mirror. And to all a
cordial _au revoir_!
"Adieu to thee again!
A vain adieu!
There can be no farewell to scene like thine:
The mind is colored by thy every hue."
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[Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors have been
corrected.
In Chapter II, "irridescent" has been changed to "iridescent", and
"witten" has been changed to "written".]