sked to say
what they valued most, they would point to the little wooden table where
their dear friend sat when she wrote the first pages of "Ramona."

For the stranger Los Angeles is the place to go to to see a new play, or
marvel at the display of fruits seen at a citrus fair--forts made of
thousands of oranges, and railroad stations and crowns of lemons,
etc.--and admire a carnival of flowers, or for a day's shopping; but
there are better spots in which to remain. I found the night air
extremely unpleasant last winter, and after hearing from a veracious
druggist, to whom I applied for a gargle, that there was an epidemic of
grip in the city, and that many died of pneumonia and that a small
majority of the invalids got well, I packed my trunk hastily and started
for Pasadena.

Those who live in the city and those who do not dislike raw, bracing
winds from the ocean pronounce Los Angeles to be the _only_ place worth
living in in all Southern California. Each place has its supporters
ignoring all other attractions, and absolutely opposite accounts of the
weather have been seriously given me by visitors to each. For those who
must be "high and dry" to improve, the rainy season is certainly unsafe.

Los Angeles is also a place to go from to the beach at Santa Monica, and
Redondo, or that wondrous island, "Santa Catalina," which has been
described by Mr. C. F. Holder in the _Californian_ so enthusiastically
that I should think the "Isle of Summer" could not receive all who would
unite to share his raptures--with a climate nearer to absolute
perfection than any land, so near all the conveniences of civilization,
and everything else that can be desired. His first jew-fish or black
sea-bass weighed 3421/2 pounds, and a dozen other varieties are gamy and
plentiful; fine sport with the rifle in the upland region, wealth of
verdure along the trail; below, good hotel, beaches, bathing, evening
concerts--"the true land of sweet idleness, where one can drift around
with all nature to entertain." To be strictly truthful, I must add that
the hotel was built just over an old Indian burying-ground, therefore
cases of typhoid fever are not unknown.

CHAPTER VI.

PASADENA.

"If there be an Elysium upon earth,
It is this, it is this."

For my own taste, I prefer Pasadena, the "Crown of the Valley"--nine
miles from Los Angeles, but eight hundred feet higher and with much
drier air, at the foot of the Sierra Mad