THE GARDEN BOOK OF CALIFORNIA 



the conditions of living are just as exacting, indeed almost 

 more so, than in the older States. Little by little, and with- 

 out entire consciousness of the fact, the vision of Eden, which 

 has led our family to this balmy dreamland, vanishes into 

 thin air, and life is lived just as much between four walls as 

 in the heart of some great over-crowded Eastern city; our 

 beautiful climate seems to lose its virtue when housed up, 

 and a brick wall daily viewed in Los Angeles is just as un- 

 productive of the inspiration to higher living as one in Cin- 

 cinnati. 



I am sure that the Creator never intended his children to 

 get so far away from the garden, and I can conceive of no 

 nobler mission than that of our great nature lovers, who are 

 constantly striving to lead us back again into the simpler 

 paths of life. Paradise was of God's own planting, and in 

 all the history of the development of man we are clearly 

 shown how He has caused, over and over again, the return- 

 ing of man to the pursuits that lead him to seek in nature 

 the lesson for his own character building. This is a much- 

 trodden path, this path to Eden, and it is a long-discovered 

 country, but each one may and does discover anew much 

 for himself. 



The "Land of Heart's Desire" some one has called this 

 Western land. I would that it might be the land of the 

 most artistic, and, at the same time, the most genuine and 

 heart-satisfying home-building that the world has ever 

 known; it can be and I have faith that it will be, but of 

 course no such delightful millennium can be reached without 



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