side of the stream. There I was just lacing my boots when a young
gentleman appeared driving a small car. He debated as to the risk of
driving across stream, but decided to try it. Driving slowly he
succeeded in getting through and turned to wave his hat in triumph. I
waved back and he pushed on his way. Soon T. appeared with a countryman
driving two stout horses. They quickly pulled the car across and their
master received a dollar for his services.

After an indifferent lunch at the Saugus railway station we went on over
the fine Newhall grade, through Fernando and the great San Fernando
Valley, through the brand new town of Van Nuys, and the settlement of
Lankershim and the handsome suburb of Hollywood into Los Angeles. The
San Fernando Valley, a wide plain with mountains in the far distance,
has been turned by the magic of water from a vast, scrubby desert into a
fruitful region, rapidly becoming populous. The San Fernando Mission
Company has placed in front of the old San Fernando Mission on the broad
highway which now runs past the Mission a charming flower garden. The
bright flowers blaze out in the afternoon sun against a background of
fragments of grey adobe wall. The Mission itself has but little to show.
A caretaker lives in the fragment of the old monastery and shows one
through the few deserted and dingy rooms. The finest thing in San
Fernando Valley is the new boulevard which sweeps through the valley to
Los Angeles and is known as the $500,000 boulevard. It is largely due to
the generalship of Mr. Whitely, who is a Napoleon of real estate.
Through the middle of the boulevard runs the electric car line. On each
side of the car line is a border of rose bushes of different varieties.
Outside of this border are two fine roads, one on either side; and again
outside of these roads is a wonderful border planted in the following
order: first, a line of rose bushes, and second, a line of Indian
deodars, first cousins to the Lebanon cedars, these deodars alternating
in their planting with a flowering shrub; third, comes a line of
Austrian and other varieties of pines; fourth, is planted a row of palm
trees. At present this planting is in its early stages, but when roses,
shrubs, and evergreens are larger, as they will soon be under the bright
California sun, the effect will be very rich and beautiful. Van Nuys has
a fine new schoolhouse, and shining new dwellings of white glazed brick,
built in the Italian and the