IS'.f.' 



t;M;.\MN(;s in kkio culturio. 



1:57 



ly. 'riir Ileal is iMosi iniciisf: ami as it Mrs 

 Itiw. ituTc is very little air. 'I'liis alone would 

 l)e eiioiifili to indiiee fevers ami ileliriiim; Imi 

 add to that the fad tliat the water toumi there 

 is so alUaliiie. ami oiiaincd wilii iniiieials, iJial 

 it is almost poisoitous. is it, any wondei- tiiat aii- 

 iiuais and men liecome ofazed and so insane 

 they nevi'i- lind tlieir way out? On the edtres of 

 tiio Mojave IV'seit ai'e some vei y tine bee- 

 ranches: and tile fifeat iieat diiriiifj the honey 

 season is tiionaht to assist in iiiviiifj a lai'fi*' 

 honey-llow w hen tliey do not gel it in othef lo 

 ealilies. Mis. IJoot. was veiy anxious to see a 

 mifaiie in the ileseiM. IM'etty soon I showed her 

 a lake of water, witii the sage brush and i)usn- 

 es relleoted in it. 



"Oh! but that ix a lake!" she replied, almost 

 as soon as 1 pointed it out. I told her to wait 

 until we rai> u\) nearer to it and she would sei! 

 it disappear: Imt when we got w liere the lak<' 

 should have been. she. •" woman -like." was very 

 miu'h inelined to stick to ln'r lirst nosition, and 

 totleelare that tin- railway had turned and gone 

 away from it. I luentioii this lo show you how 

 rail is a mirage. 



At San Francisco there was plenty of rain; 

 but w hen we neared the desert the weather was 

 very dry, and it is still dry here at Los .Vngeles. 

 We arehaving. in fact, the most beautiful sum- 

 mer weather here, riglit in the midst of .Janua- 

 ry. Ow iiig to my sickness I was obliged lo give 

 up many points I inteiuled to visit, and, in fact, 

 it was only by pushing ahead as fast as possi- 

 ble tliat we succeeded in getting here the day of 

 the convention. I think I never attended a 

 convention before wiiere therc^ was a better 

 feeling among all present than at this one on 

 the tjth and Ttli of .January. In fact, nothing 

 came up during any of the sessions that savored 

 in the least of any sort of discord. Many of the 

 bee-keepers brought their wives, and Mrs. Root 

 soon found herself among the best of friends. 

 As soon as we were up and dressed on our first 

 morning in IjOS Angeles I was in a great hurry 

 to have Mrs. Root see the strange new vegeta- 

 tion of this semi-tropical land. It was a treat 

 to see her look, and to hear her (exclamations of 

 wonder as we passed some of the tine dooryards. 

 The palms and pahnettcjs. perhaps, attracted 

 the most attention. A beautiful park m/ar the 

 First Congregational church furnished no end 

 of w-onderful plants and trees. After the con- 

 vention our gooil friend Woodljerry took us on a 

 drive through the mountain -|iasses from (ilen- 

 dale to Pasadena, on one route, and back again 

 on another one. Mrs. Root asked me at night 

 whether there were any more places in Califor- 

 nia so beautiful. A few days after. w<^ visited 

 Ventura, and with a livery team we drov(i 20 

 miles up into the Malilija (pronounced Mah-til- 

 c-hah) Canyon. There is a particular spot near 

 the hot springs that affected me so ijowerfully 

 that I watched her anxiously to .see whether it 

 would be the same with her. When I had triced 

 to tell her about it, away back in Ohio. sIk; said 

 she<lid not believe she cared for natural scenery 

 as I did: l)ut when we came to the point in 

 question I was satisfied. Jler exijri-ssions of 

 wonder and awe, became stronger and .stronger. 

 uiUil human language became too weak to ex- 

 press the emotions of the soul. No one can de- 

 scribe a mountain. No picture can do it just- 

 ice. There are points wheni the eye and feel- 

 ings, and all previous judgment and experi- 

 ence, are compelh^d to confess their utter help- 

 lessness. You can"t t<^ll whether th«! road is 

 going down or up. for you liav(^ actually seen 

 the rivulet at th(' roadside so perver.sc- as to run 

 up hill. You at the same time confess you do 

 not know whether the rocky cliff is near at 

 hand or far away: neithctr do you know^ wheth- 

 er it is five hundred or a thousand feet iiigh. 



'l"he great rocks and clill> appall von; and. t,o 

 add to the illnsldii that ii must be an enchant- 

 ed land, the sprini; lliat biibliles foi I h at your 

 feet is tin I Ik il to drink. We went, a mile furtlH^r 

 up tile rugged canyon on foot, and found an 

 apiary of several hundred colonies. Its owner 

 stays there only in the summer time; in fact, he 

 uses it for a summer residence, and moves l)ack 

 into town when the hoiu^y season is over. 



While friend \Vilkin and I walked up to the 

 apiary, the wonuwi-folks took a liath in the 

 rud(^ tent right in the bed cjf the creek. The 

 sun was getting low and the air chilly, bnt 1 

 felt I could not go back until I loo had taken a 

 bath. I told tiK'in 1 could be ready to step into 

 the carriage in ten or twelve minuies. The tent 

 looked open, and 1 feared I should take cold: 

 but when I closed the curtain partially I foumi 

 it pretty wafin, for the hot air i)oured out of 

 every crack. How delicious and soothing the 

 water seemed! It is .so highly cliarged with 

 chemicals that one can hardly keep hi-; body 

 under — it buoys him up like the salt water of 

 the ocean. Afie'r I had got ch^ar under, all but 

 my nose, mouth, and eyes. I enjoyed it so much 

 that I decided they would have to wait in the 

 cari'iage five or six minutes more. So much 

 clambering about and traveling had made my 

 toes quite dirty. Now, don't be in a hurry to 

 say that I am not n(>at in my habits, l^or I did it 

 on purpo.se. 1 told .Mrs. Root I wanted to test 

 the cleansing pro[)erties of this water, without 

 soap, and that slie must let my feet stay so till 

 we got to the hot springs. Well, I watched the 

 chemicals at work, for the water is so clear that 

 you can see in it for a foot or two, almost as 

 well as through air. Sure enough, without a 

 bit of rubbing, the dirt faded away right before 

 my eyes, until my toes were as pink and clean 

 as a baby's, and so it was with my whole body. 

 I held my head under the spout, and rubbed it 

 until the scalp was cleaner than any barber's 

 shampoo ever made it. The horses and inmates 

 of the carriage were impatient, and I hustled 

 on my clothes, having been in the tent 18 min- 

 utes. I tried to give the proprietor his usual 

 half-dollar; but he said my notice of the spring 

 three years ago had made him many times my 

 debtor; and wlien I talked to him about green- 

 hou.ses and incubators with the surplus water, 

 he told me water and the grounds were all at 

 my service, free of cost, whenever I might 

 choose to come and utilize it. I was prepared 

 to hear Mrs. Root say many times that the 

 mountain roads of the canyon were unsafe for 

 even a ijood driver; and I knew% too. that she 

 considered me a poor one, so I let the team 

 "out" gradually; and as they wanted to go 

 home, we W(Mit up and down with a rush, now 

 within an inch of the sharp granite rocks on one 

 side, and about as near a sharp precipice on the 

 other, dodging boulders, and ever and anon 

 plunging into the mountain-torrent as we cross- 

 ed the stream from one side to the other. I do 

 not know when I have enjoyed any thing more 

 than that mountain-drive: and wiien we got 

 home, just as the last glimiise of the twilight 

 was fading, she wiiispered that she had more 

 faith in her husband than sh<i ever had before, 

 •' as a driver! " Had we taken the regular 

 stage it would have cost ^G.tX), and we should 

 haves had to stay at the springs over night. 

 With the livery we started after 10, took a cou- 

 ple of friends with us. stayed an hour and a 

 half at the springs, and got back soon after 

 o'clock, and I had the fun of driving a spirited 

 team forty mil(!s. When we were; married my 

 wife and I took a steamboat-ride on the' Ohio 

 River, for a wedding-tour. Well, during all 

 these thirty years we two have never since 

 had a boat-ride together. When sh(s saw the 

 great ocean, and heard the roar of the waves, 



