SPANISH GARDENS 



walks; an austere adornment of marble busts 

 against walls of living green is the only detail. 

 Beyond the level tops of a great expanse of wind- 

 ing hedge dark natural tree masses are seen, 

 pointed and rounding; and far below in all the 

 color and the glow of sunset lie the shore, the sea. 



From Spain to California is a mental transition 

 easily accomplished. Toward sunset the inde- 

 scribable grays of the velvety California moun- 

 tains, with long indigo shadows in their folds, hold 

 the eye. Below these stand a line of glorious 

 sycamore-trees, their winter leaves of burnished 

 copper shining in the sun above rounding fields, 

 thinly veiled in the green of a spring crop. It is 

 this remarkable juxtaposition of the bright brown 

 and rich blue, sycamore leaf and mountain shadow, 

 which captivates the traveller on the first sight of 

 California in January. The sunlight through gray 

 interlacing branches of olive-trees in the orchards, 

 too, creates beautiful purple shadows on the fresh- 

 ploughed soil beneath, and gives a wondrous feel- 

 ing of the spring. In fact, January and part of 

 February are the spring in southern California. 



At Coronado, as one stands on a little eminence 

 trying not to see the hotel — that hotel which 

 creates perfect comfort within its walls and un- 



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