at least, they are subordinate and must not intrude. This brings Santa
Lucia into view, directly behind the mission, and thus the two most
prominent, most interesting, most beautiful objects in the landscape
are brought together in one perfect whole: Mt. Santa Lucia--Nature's
grandest creation for miles around; Mission San Antonio--man's
noblest, most artistic handiwork between Santa Barbara and Carrnelo.

CHARLES FRANKLIN CARTER,
in _Some By-Ways of California._



MAY 15.


There is what may be called a _sense_ of the sea, which is
indefinable. No lesser body of water, no other aspect of Nature
affords this. It is in the air, like a touch of autumn, and we know it
as much through feeling as through seeing. The coast is saturated for
some distance inland with this presence of the sea, much as the beach
is soaked with salt water. It is music and poetry to the soul and as
elusive as they, wrapping us in dreams and yielding fugitive glimpses
of that which we may never grasp, but which skirts, like a beautiful
phantom, the mind's horizon. Like music, it is an opiate, and unlocks
for us new states of mind in which we wander, as in halls of alabaster
and mother-of-pearl, but where, alas, we may not linger. We can as
readily sound the ocean as fathom the feelings it inspires. It is too
deep for thought. As often as the sea speaks to us of the birth of
Venus and of Joy, so also does it remind of Prometheus bound and the
thrall of Nature.