“It looks a veritable paradise,” said Violet; “it reminds me of a description of Pasadena I heard given by a lady at the Hotel del Coronado. She said one would find plenty of flowers in bloom, but at the same time you would need to wear flannels and sealskin sacks; there would be snow-capped mountains and orange blossoms; the trees are green all the year and you go outdoors in December to get warm; where rats build in the trees and squirrels live in the ground with owls.”
“And where the boys climb up hill on burros and slide down hills on wheels,” laughed Grace. “I hope we shall see some of those funny things and doings.”
“I hope we shall,” said Lucilla, “and I particularly want to see the hedges of calla-lilies, geraniums and heliotrope.”
“Well, I think we are likely to stay long enough for you all to see whatever there is to be seen,” said the captain.
“Yes, I am glad we don’t have to hurry away,” remarked Grace in a blithe and cheery tone.
“As we all are, I think,” said Grandma Elsie. “I don’t know who could fail to desire to stay awhile in so lovely a place as this.”
“And we will have nothing to call us away until we are all ready to go,” said Captain Raymond.
But their arrival at their house of entertainment now brought the conversation to a close.
They found Pasadena so charming that they lingered there week after week. The town was beautiful, protected on three sides by mountain ranges and surrounded by groves and gardens, trees and hedges. There were roses clambering to the tops of houses and covered by tens of thousands of blossoms, and there were passion vines completely covering the arbors. There were hedges made of the honeysuckle, the pomegranite and the heliotrope. Marengo Avenue they found lined on both sides by the beautiful pepper tree.