A Glimpse of "The Glorious."
Most people who live in the Eastern States consider California a great distance off, and so it is; yet it takes only five days to cross the continent, by rail, and bring one from January snows to sunshine and flowers. Petaluma is a thriving town of three thousand, situated in Sonoma County, and connected with San Francisco by tide-water. The chief occupations of the people in the surrounding country are dairying, fruit-raising, and wine-making. The varieties of the Sonoma fruits most raised are cherries, apricots, peaches, pears, plums, apples, figs, olives, and grapes. There are many large dairies and creameries owned by the Swiss people, who find the surrounding country a good substitute for their native land. Before California came into the possession of the United States the swarthy Mexican and his fiery mustang roamed through the tall grass, tending enormous herds of cattle, sometimes slaughtering several hundred for their hides, and leaving the carcasses to the buzzards.
Samuel T. Bush, R. T. K.
East Oakland.
A Collection of Newspapers.
We advised a member to write to the American Minister at Athens for a copy of a newspaper printed in modern Greek. Elsa Roeder kindly amends by suggesting the Atlantis, printed in New York. It is wholly in Greek, and no address other than New York city is necessary. Thanks, dear Lady Elsa. This collecting of present-day newspapers as a means of broadening and increasing one's knowledge of the world is most useful and interesting. It is also inexpensive, and as an educator equals or exceeds the collecting of stamps. Did you ever see a present-day newspaper that is published in Brussels or Rome, or even Paris or London? The American Consuls can give you the names and the amounts to remit for single copies. Or, if you send stamps for postage, the Consuls would in most cases forward the newspapers, we think. You can get a list of Consuls from the State Department, Washington, or can find them in the Congressional Directory, which your Member of Congress will gladly send you upon request.
Consuls are always desirous of serving the interests of fellow-Americans in such matters. The spread of English-speaking humanity has led to the founding of English newspapers in many foreign cities. In the Orient there are newspapers printed in English, and they are full of what to us are quaint items. Such papers are to be found in Constantinople, Cairo, Calcutta, Yokohama, Honolulu, and even in Teheran and Jerusalem. The Indian Mail and Japan Mail are interesting newspapers, and you would read the South Australian Chronicle, published in Adelaide, and the Tasmanian Mail, published in Hobart, with a great deal of curiosity. Then your collection ought to include such famous journals as the Gazette, of Cologne, Germany, printed in German, of course; the Gazette, of St. Petersburg, and the Novoe Vremya, of Moscow, printed in modern Russian; the Petit Journal, of Paris, and Independence Belge, of Brussels, in French; the Nacionale, of Madrid, and the Journal, of Rio de Janeiro, in Spanish; and papers from Constantinople, in Turkish, and from Tokyo, in Japanese. You should also include the Scotsman, of Edinburgh, Scotland, in your collection, and you might learn much that you do not know from a careful reading of newspapers published in North and South American cities. Did you ever see a Caracas newspaper? The study is a fascinating one, and as surely broadens and liberalizes as does knowledge on other studies, collegiate not excepted.