The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, October 30, 1898, Page 19

Her count ¢ but bec her? usic to her strongest, the lunges Cruz, watch- e all other swim- not drown , and S vaca OO000COO00 a_for tion. This child THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1898 Very Like in a way that surf-bather. fourtee: astounded t One m t you heard why as the confidential “Haven't you you heard ‘wh Barbara. echoed all of Santa And Lolita heard, too. She wrote a tiful little letter, home and with “heimweh gnawing at her heart Her father came for went to Coro- awaited a reply. her and together they Of all the swimmers who took a dally plunge there was none who could com- pete with Lolit he would swim out t beyond the reach of the eye, the sound of the voice. The r children begged her to teach and found her ever ready to help. do you always wear stocking a?" asked one of the little gi much nicer to have you go in the water. Lolita did not reply, but ran sobbing up the beach, and that night she and her father left for Oakland. All this a friend of the family told me as we crossed the bay. She finished ur legs ba C000000000O0O00O000C000000000CO SANJOSESSEREEINNEVA ORI ypped to side. In a be of the greatest overs of trees in the that dreaded pest, for some time by serymen that the S: ain parts of N Long Island, but never L -n discovered in New Yo; the spread of the I 1 the beautiful there 'k will in a few in- 3 ] permanently troyed. P. Gould, assistant in the Agriculture at Cornell, who of -the tate inspector for the San Jose of New York, who dis- ect r Central Park finding the traces e an inves- only the the city are more ourge. It is : three years’ ctor to m New York city, started immedi- ate the pest fr e work w re Bronxvi T efficient method of eradi- aid to be a mixture p of whale ofl rious insect, which feeds biood of fruit and other Roberts, director of the iculture at Cornell, said E sing the Commis. with fruit- present time s already se- nany localities. can be found for 1 of eradicating ady appeared the York, which now milllons of income to the brings ma farme will have to be largely aban- doned Sy An authori upon cently wrote: ‘‘There is per! sect capable of causing greater damage to fruit erests In the United States or perhaps In the world, than the San Jose scale, or pernicious scale., It is not striking In appearance and might often remain unrecognized, or at least mis- reful study - understood, and yet so steadily and re- ssly does it spread over practically 1 iduous fruit trees—trunk, limbs, foliage and fruit—that it is a question f only two or three years befo d is brou of inju h, from experience from other scale of deciduous plants, might be ignored or thought Insufficient, is soon startlingly demonstrated. Its importance, from an economic stand- point, is vastly increased by the ease ith which it is distributed over wide tricts through the agency of nursery k and the marketing of fruit, and the extreme difficulty of exterminating it wh introduced, presenting, as it does in the last regard, difficulties not found with any other scale Insect.” It was this pernicious scourge which caused Germany to forbid the entrance of all American fruit into her seaports last February, for fear that some of the scale should infect the fruit trees of that country. or a time it seemed as if this E: would cause a bit- asting controversy between the two natior On February 5 Emperor Willlam ued an order: ‘“To guard against the importation of the San Jose scale-louse the importation of living plants from America; and further, of such barrels, boxes and other objects, which were used for packing or trans- portation of such products or parts of such 5, is prohibited until “The same applies to invoices of fresh fruits or fresh parts of frult from America, 2s well as the packing ma- terial used thereto, whenever the ex- amination which is to take place at the port of entry has ascertained the pres- ence of the San Jose scale-louse on the goods or on the packing material.” John Walton Spencer, conductor of University Extension Work of Agricul- ture in the western district of New York, sald: ‘“1ne San Jose scale is re- ported among our plants. It has a quiet, insidious habit, so that few ob- serve it. A single insect is so small as compared with the trees that it attacks that it may be likened to the ‘flea upon a lion,” but fleas and scales also can multiply like locusts in Egypt. It is probably imported from California and it came in nursery stock. It first be- gan to be noticed in the East by en- tomologists in New Jersey, then it spread to Long Island, and for the last few years It has been creeping up the Hudson, where its presence was at last recognized. It has no means of loco- motion of its own, and it gets to dis- tant points by fastening its tentacies upon nursery stock and spreads itself by that means,like a plague. “Nurserymen who have been in the business for a number of years will wonder if they have it in their stock, and they should only be satisfied when they have obtained an investigation by the most experienced entomologists. up the story abrup n front of a tiny white cottage. “Sh 1, “there’s Lolita drying her & I locked and saw the figure of a child completely enveloped in a m of golden hair. A - Lorelel mever sunned hair of a more beautiful ran slim white fingers it and shook it out In the sun, ttering fluffy, golden locks. We knocked at the door unnoticed by Lolita, s, Farron, who admitted us, ig a slight, dark woman. She talked to us in a faltering way, punctuated by fluttering, birdlike COC00000000000000CO0000000000000000000000 extremely nervous? a Fish When She Was an Infant. How Her Scaly Skin Was Changed. “I was cleaning a fish a short ti Lolita was born and the thought of it made me very ill for days. I was not surprised that she was born with skin scaled like a fish. Her legs, too, were joined together, and the feet, being webbed, made her look like a 1 uncanny sort of fish. The doc- tor, after a surgical treatment, assured me’ that she would be able to-walk nat- urally. “As a mere infant she was passion- ately fon@-of Watér. When the nurse gave her her bath she was wild with delight and struck out with her little ture: 19 arms and legs as though she wanted to swim. “Lolita was not quite a year old when could walk, yet every morning she went for a_swim with her father. Then she weuld sit quietly for hours and look at the ocean, never making a sound, but screaming and crying if any one at- tempted to take her away. “It worried me dreadfully and I came home. T made up my mind I would ever let the child go swimming. After learned to walk I used to take her g the beach to look at the water, ver let go of her hand for an however, while walking on she broke away from me, If in and swam to the op- sked me to come in,’ was Santa Cruz tc end the 3 She could not walk at the all she would ever say about it. time, but we used to put her in a little “We have a little fountain in the vard e for hours bathing suit and let her creep on the sand. “One day the waves rolled up hi on the shore than usual and some = her w and Lolita would sit the running her fingers th 5 tasted f innot even bear the she ‘got m with them. ere were bathe: around who saw her, She went to school when she was and at ! dozen of them started six, and I feared that she would suffer to the You can imagine from the careless remarks of the other how surprised eve to see the children about her skin. But through as the most ac- the application of oil I managed to have babe swim s complished swimmer. water as though she After that her out of it. “Though it was weeks before Lolita CO00000000CO0C0 00000OOOO0OOOOOOOOOOOOGOOOOOOOODOOOflJ 00 we simply could She took to the belonged not keep in it. her skin look almost natural “I never permitted her to go swim- ming at the baths here or in Alameda, although I could not prevent her from constantly slipping away to look at the WHAT MRS. GAGE AND MRS. PATTON THINK OF THE ELECTION. Women, but the Intense Intereft They Feel in Their Husbands'Hopzs Has Brought the Gampaigh Right Both of Them Are Thorough Home HE home of Henry T. Gage is about an hour's drive from Los Angeles. The road is a bit dusty. but one does not mind that slight inconvenience after arriving at the home, which amply repays one for the journey. The house and grounds= are on a sloping plece of land, and in the immediate vicinity are acres of green lawns and walks shaded with palms, magnolla, cypress, orange and lemon trees, while here and there are rustic benches, roses, lilles and flowers galore. Every blade of grass upon the place, every fruit tree and wide-spreading cypress tree attest to the fact of Mr. Gage's love and interest in his home, for they were planted by his own hand Mrs. Henry T. Gage believes firmly that her husband will be the next Gov- ernor, for she does not think that the people of California would fail to avail Up to Ther Hearthstones W Gage and Mrs. 2 % % Patton are Every one who has even the slightest with the man who is running for the highest office in the gift Vi FLad] I'? 7 ting personalities. acquaintance inter personal very \UH:\T about the homes of the Republican leaders? Both Mrs. of his fellow citizens has some inferesting bit of gossip to tell, which he does with that puffy air of superior, accurate knowledge; that strut- ting tone of pride at the impression conve ed of an every-day hobnob- bing with quality. The butcher and the baker and the grocer tell with pride that the men upon whom distinction is to be conferred are their customers. Those who affect the quality of camaraderie talk of “My friend,” and on the sly calculate how many favors they will ~c able to ask in the halcyon days of office. What a politician is in his home does not bother the men who are interested in his election. They don’'t care whether or not he has a home and family, or whether he goes to bed with the chickens or stays out betimes. Not so the thousands without personal interest. They Jove the bit of human nature that makes him akin to them. They like to speculate on the'love, the anxiety that there is in the home, where success or defeat means so much. In no instance is the ‘interest which surrounds the home life of candidates for public office so marked as in that of the two men who now stand for preferment at the head of the Republican State and municipal ticket; Henry T. Gage, with his pretty interesting wife and happy children, and Charles H. Patton, with his charming home and no less charming wife. home In Los Angeles, his ocean. She would never say whether or not she went in swimming on such occasions. “This summer we went to Santa Cruz. Lolita had not been there since babyhood. When she went down to the beach she burst into violent tears. She could not wait she was so impatient to put on a bathing suit and swim. She would stay in the water almost all day long, but it never seemed to disagree with her. People began to talk about her wonderful swimming, and then about—well about other things, so we came home. . “But Lolita'was so unhappy here that I sent her down to Santa Barbara. From there her father took her to Coro- nado, and then they came home. We have to let her go swimming every day now. She goes in the morn- ing before school. I forbade her going at first, but she grew so strangely silent and went around so piteously that I had to let her go. She swam in the surf at Alameda thie morning, and is out in the yard now drying her hair. I'll call her fn. Lolita! Lolita.” Lolita came quickly, throwing back her golden hair and showing an oval face with delicate features and beauti- ful sea-green eyes. She is not as tall as the average child of fourteen, and she has an odd, piteous expression. “Did you enjoy your swim?” I asked. ‘““Yes, but I had to come home, and when the waves call you all the time it is so hard to get away from them.” “You love the sea?” I said. “Oh, yes; and the sea is my friend. It would never harm me. Even when I was a baby it let me ride on it.” She moved over to the window, and the b 3 AL, = 7 A FISH rays of light falling on her face showed the peculiar scaled skin. In the shadow it was scarcely noticeable. “People say ' am like a fish,” continued, in a voice as young fresh as an ocean breeze. “At first I felt dreadfully about it, but now I do not care. I can swim better than any of them. And, oh, if you but knew the thirgs the sea says to me when I am swimming. All about coral reefs and mermaids and beautiful fish. 1 know there is mething in the sea that plays on some sweet instrument, th the side she and because when I swim ¥ stroke T hear the most heavenly music. No one else can hear the sweet things, so I do not care if I am strange.” “What do you like besides the water?” “Books,” she answered, promptiy. “especially poetry. But there is one other. book that I love more than any It's ‘Undine.’ I've read it fifty times. I even loved Undine before sh had a soul, because she understood the water as I.do.” Straneely like Undine is this little Lo- lita with her yellow-gold hair, and eyes as deep, unfathomable and shifting in color as the ocean itself. Like Undine, too, in her passionate yearning for the water. But like nothing save a fish is her skin. themselves of the opportunity of plac- ing such a man at the head of their government. And as she says it her blue eyes glow with pride at the con- viction of her husband’s superiority over all other men. She is an earnest woman of vivid con- victions and a never-failing fund of personal enthusiasm. She is essential- 1y domestic, all her interests being cen- tered in her home, her husband and their five children. She takes the kKeen- est interest in the campaign and reads everything the papers say, whether good or bad. The good she already Knows, and the bad she doesn’t believe. “When Mr. Gage is elected I shall certainly reside at Sacramento,” she said, and rising to the five feet seven fnches of her .magnificently propor- tioned womanhood, she stepped to the window, and glancing over the land- scape, added, “and we will try to have our home there a reproduction of this happy and beautiful one, where all our children were born. That row of pop- Jar trees, the orchards of oranges, lem- ons, walnuts and olive trees were all jaid out and planted by Mr. Gage him- self.” ‘At the thought that there might be four years spent away from the pretty southland home, Mrs. Gage grew a bit meditative, and then said quietly: “Yes, it will be a wrench to leave this beautiful home, but, as Governor, my husband’s duties will require his residence in Sacramento during his term of office, and of course I will be there with him and our children. “During our residence in Sacramento we will both be pleased to enter into the social pleasures and enjoyments of the citizens. As for myself, I.am not sure how I would entertain, for sur- roundings would, of course, affect that; but if Mr. Gage is elected, and I believe he will be, we will, I think, be fully able to meet any demands that may be made upon us.” - WAY out on Broadway, in an artistic little house, Mrs. Patton flits about her household duties with an anxiety gripping at her heart which will not be stilled until the day of election has been passed. Mrs. Patton says she never took the slightest interest in politics until her husband was nominated, that she doesn't know much about party ques- tlons now. At first she regretted hav- ing her husband go into politics, for she felt that he had heavy odds to fight against, and then she feared just the least little bit that it might interfere with their home life. “You see,” she said, a warm glow suffusing her creamy skin and lighting the depths of her soft brown eyes, “my husband and my home are all I care for in the world. But it hasn’t made a bit of difference. Mr. Patton is out a little later nights, that’s all, but I know it's only for a short time and that soon the thread of domesticity will be resumed. “Oh, I do hope he'll be elected. He’s such a good man that I'm sure he would make a good Mayor. “No, I am not fond of society. I am qaite content with my beautiful home,” and she looked about her with a satis- fied, proprietary air at the pretty ma- hogany raftered little room, while the tall clock upon the stairs tolled off the seconds and the canaries in an adjoin- ing room shook their little throats in a glad tremolo from mere joy of life. A homey, restful atmosphere per- vaded the place. “Do you know," she sald, suddenly, “I have never heard my husband make a speech, but I'm going to soon. I would love to, for I'm sure he makes a good one.” Mrs. Patton has an admiration for and a faith in her husband that is as big as he Is. She is a little body, modest, shrinking from publicity, and as she talks she settles back into her chair with an alr that goes well with her rich southern colering.