A LESSON ON THE TRAIN.

"The Schoolmistress Abroad."

All through Southern California I hear words of whose meaning I have no
idea until they are explained. For instance, a friend wrote from San
Diego in February: "Do not longer delay your coming; the mesas are
already bright with wild-flowers." A mesa is a plateau, or upland, or
high plain. And then there are fifty words in common use retained from
the Spanish rule that really need a glossary. As, arroyo, a brook or
creek; and arroyo seco, a dry creek or bed of extinct river.

Alameda, an avenue.

Alamitos, little cotton-wood.

Alamo, the cotton-wood; in Spain, the poplar.

Alma, soul.

That is all I have learned in A's. Then for B's.

I asked at Riverside what name they had for a big, big rock that rose
right out of the plain, and was told it was a "butte." That gave a
meaning to Butte City, and was another lesson.

Banos means baths, and barranca is a small ravine.

Then, if we go on alphabetically, cajon, pronounced _cahone_, is a box.

Calaveras, skull.

Campo, plain.

Cienaga, a marshy place.

Campo sancto, cemetery.

Canyon or canon, gulch.

Cruz, cross.

Colorado, red.

Some of the Spanish words are so musical it is a pleasure to repeat them
aloud; as:

Ensenada, bright.

Escondido, hidden.

Fresno means ash.

I inquired the meaning of "Los Gatos," and was kindly informed it was
"The Gates," but it really is "The Cats."

Goleta, the name of another town, means schooner.

The Spanish _j_ nearly always has the sound of _h_.

Jacinto, Hyacinth.

Jose, Joseph.

Lago is lake; pond, laguna; and for a little lake the pretty name
lagunita. "Lagunita Rancho" is the name of an immense fruit ranch in
Vacaville--and, by the way, vaca is cow.

Madre is mother; nevada, snowy.

San Luis Obispo is San Luis the Bishop.

El Paso is The Pass.

Pueblo, a town.

Pinola is parched corn ground fine between stones, eaten with milk.

Pinoche, chopped English walnuts cooked in brown sugar--a nice candy.

Rancho, a farm; and rio, river.

Everything is a ranch out here; the word in the minds of many stands
for home. A little four-year-old boy was overheard praying the other day
that when he died the Lord would take him to His ranch.

Sacramento is the sacrament.

Sierra, saw-toothed; an earthquake is a temblor.

San and Santa, the masculine and feminine form of saint.

As the men who laid out a part of New York evidently travelled wi