FRAGMENT IN DOCUMENT 100 OF THE MCCULLAGH
LETTERS
The German (Mr. Israel)[1]
got a mote in his eye. He saw me before
take one out of Willie's[2]
eye so he came to me & pointing to his eye said "have a
see". I did but could see nothing
so I said to him "Blow your nose".
He took some tobacco off the end of a cigar rubbed it fine in his
fingers & snuffed it up vigorously which set him sneezing I laughed. He said "What you call
dat". I said sneeze. He said
"I call that blow" He was a
very funny fellow & gave us great fun during the journey with his broken
English & comments on everything.
We had meals several places along the road "not bad eat, but very
big monies" as the German said.
Milk 10c a glass (about 5d of our money) 20c for a cup of tea & a
bad sandwich (about 10d of our money)
We could get any amount of fruit in the cars oranges bananas peaches
etc. etc. 2˝ days & nights going thro' the desert, dear but we were tired
of it. The heat was great. 90
in the shade & dust suffocating.
We got oranges to buy in the train I think I never ate so many in my
life before they are dearer than they were in the old country but better. There were bananas. I ate some but don't care for them much they
are too luscious, peaches which are lovely, cherries, apricots This is a land of fruit & flowers. I wish you could see Los Angeles It is the very nicest city I have ever been
in, all flowers & fruit Roses every where.
We arrived in Los Angeles 4 o'c
Sunday evg. Went to look up a Mr. Todd[3]
to whom Willie had got a letter of introduction but did not find him in. Then went to see Mr. & Mrs. Nicoll[4]
(Miss Ritchie's[5] sister &
brother-in-law) of course she did not know us, never expecting to see us there
but when we told her who we were she was very very kind and hospitable She made us stay all night. We went to evg.
service at their church & heard a Mr. Crabb[6]
preach & were afterwards introduced to him his wife & daughters all
very pleasant & agreeable. Mr. Nicoll brought us through the lumber works
on Monday mory, they are very interesting sawing, planing, everything in the
carpentering line done like lightning by machinery. We left Los Angeles on the 2 o'c train & had a hard drive to
be in time for it. The station was
about 4 miles from Mr. Nicols and this distance we went in about 20 minutes in
a "Surrey" drawn by a pair of grand horses, they could almost
fly. They have cable cars, electric
cars,& horse cars all through the city.
The electric cars are driven by electric wires over head
[1] Mr. ISRAEL?
[2] “Willie”? It would seem that two family members or friends are travelling in California and come from Ireland. There are many possibilities, none that can be persued with certainty, especially as I can’t date the Fragment. It is obviously in the pre-automobile era.
[3] Mr. TODD?
[4] Mr. & Mrs. NICHOLL?
[5] Miss RITCHIE? There is a Gerald RITCHIE who married an Elizabeth WEIR who was in turn a daughter of William WEIR & Esther RUTHERFORD who in turn was a daughter of Matthew Macualey RUTHERFORD and Elizabeth BROWNE. The RUTHERFORDs were from Ballybay, Co. Monaghan
[6] Mr. CRABB