El Camino Real I95 



grove, and in winter is a garden environed by snow- 

 capped mountains, and its present size and fame are due 

 to its beauty of situation and its singularly perfect cli- 

 mate. Thirty miles from the ocean, on the slope of the 

 Sierra, it commands the sea : receives its winds by day, 

 and mountain air by night. Pasadena exemplifies life 

 in the open in Southern California. Its country clubs, 

 golf links, fine roads and drives for motor-cars make it 

 at once the centre of delightful life in what is fast be- 

 coming a fashionable winter resort comparable to Nice, 

 Florence, or many cities of the Riviera, and exceeding 

 them all in the perfection of its climate. 



As the coach turns to the south and passes through 

 the long orange groves something comes down the wind 

 from far away, the bells of San Gabriel Archangel, 

 the same tones that rang out the Angelus years ago 

 and invited the savages of the valley to a better life. 



There is a variety in this out-of-door life that lends 

 an additional charm to the country, seen from the top of 

 a coach. The yellow splendours of the meadow-lark's 

 breast blaze for a moment on the mesa ; plumed quails 

 run into the road, stop and eye us, then hurry along, with 

 nodding plumes, to rise almost under the leaders' heads, 

 and fill the sleepy air with the thunder of their wings. 

 Early in the morning cotton-tails, fluffy and tender, may 

 be seen darting in and out among the cactus ; or in 

 some wash, in the shadow of the sage-brush, sits a long- 

 eared hare, which darts away, bounding into the air as 

 though on springs. Little gray owls nod at you from 



