1912 ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT TRAVEL DIARY HANDWRITTEN BY ONE SISTER OF THE EASTERN STAR TEMPLE ON A TRAIN TRIP OF A LIFETIME TO CALIFORNIA

On offer is a fascinating original manuscript diary from dated October 28th 1912 handwritten by an unidentified woman in letter form to her children 'Dearest Ruthie and Oscar'. For the most part this is a travel diary of a once in a lifetime train trip easily explained: 'Our train was an Eastern Star Special with 138 members aboard.' What follows are 76 densely written pages that reveal a woman whose entire life is devoted to Free Masonry, Shriners, Templars and the Eastern Stars. The narrative provides intimate details of other members of the trip, their activities and a myriad of other writings describing the trip which caps her first year in the Grand Chapter. She also makes mention of Past Grand Matrons and Grand Treasurer and other society history regarding the chapters of California. The two week trip in California takes them through Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, etc attending different Free Mason Chapter Conventions and such. Many names, places and events are mentioned including: a boat crossing the bay she met Mrs. Ella Tyler Hall, a past Grand Matron, as well as lady who was a Conductress of the El Vesta Chapter; going to the Santa Barbara Mission; the Templars; Shriners and the Eastern Star Hall; the Potter Hotel in Santa Barbara; the Arlington Hotel; Alexandria Hotel; Shrine Auditorium in LA; Echo Mountain; being witness to an election at chapter where she details the amount of votes certain ladies got for certain offices; she paid $2.50 to take a boat from LA to Santa Catalina island; went to the Cliff House; La Canada Valley; San Fernando Valley; the thing she wanted to do most was go back to Mt. Love and stay overnight, she loved those mountains and details her trip back to them and the joy they bring her, this book just has so many fantastic passages, here is an excerpt where she describes a Masonic Ritual: "We had a delicious meal. I had crab salad, a Mt. Lowe Special to the tune of 80 cents, spinach and egg, and peach ice cream. Charlotte took just about the same as I. And our gentlemen had chicken pies and baked apples instead. Mr. Bradoff is a very big eater, I know -- for I have seen him at Amaranth. And I saw him let his waist belt out a notch or two -- but of course I wasn't looking at him. He went for a walk afterward and he told about it himself. There was some part of the Masonic Ritual that came to the minds of both men. It seems to me it was a prayer between the both. They repeated it to us, first one remembering a part and then the other one. He walked to Inspiration Point about a half mile from the tavern. Mr. Saville was going to leave for SF that night, at 6 o'clock on the Owl... but the view from Inspiration Point is something wonderful. On a clear day one can see the Catalina Island and the ocean... It seems to me one feels nearer to God in the mountains..." The 8.75 x 7 inch composition notebook is overall VG.