The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1890-12-18
FROM CALIFORNIA
ssFleas', and ssA:er', Plentiful, and
Whore Climate 10 Sold by the
Acre and Wood by the Lib.
An Ideal Spot for Invallds and Peo.
PIE Who Have Nothing
To Do.

learn" That we nave Oeen much al
1icted with sickness" since arriving ii,
p California. This bare item needs
elaboration, and we hasten to lay the
facts before your ice.bound and
''skee"- readers.
Our first "sicknrss' was in the form
of fleas. "Fleas" is sort of external
adliction, species of eczema, or skin
eruption. Rather an Eruption on "to"
the skin. We wrestled several weeks
with this species Of bacilli, bacteria.
trichinea, magnified microbe, or what
ever It is, losing sleep at night and
consuming our nervous and muscular
energy in scratching during the day.
We were then attending Camp
meeting and "baching" with the
whole family in hired rooms. The
landlady informed US that ''Aeas'' were
unknown in her house and that we
"bro,lyht It ,oith us''
From the camp-meeting we came to
this sanity city, the city of perpetual
roses and summer, OF poor water and
drainage, Of much surface waste ard
dumpage. and secured quarters amid
innunerable flowers, pepper trees,
pampas p'umes and dust. The noun.
tains stretched up 4 1000 to 5000 feet on
the one hand, and the Pacific ocean
stretched away 1000 to 5000 miles on
the other. The children 6 .thered sea-
moss on the beach, and played with
the porpoises and gu'ls. Some days q
school of the former, two or three
miles long and half mile wide, would
come rolling and rocking, leaping and
lunging down the channel, and every
day or two big iron steamer would
loom up in the ofHing, and come slnok-
ing ana steaning into the harbor.
Roses, mountains, b!ue waters, sea
shells. porpoises, ocean steamers. and
beautiful. misty, far away, mountain
islands rising out of the water! Ev-
cry body WAS happy. But one day
about u"on one Of the family turned
paie,zrcw blue arou,,d the mouth, ard
w o'IdEV. 'lo "uS AVN. " v
had heard of California earthquakes,
but never knew that they made person
al and individual attacks. We always
thought that an earthQ uakc was an i'm
personal, cosm"p"litan, general phcn~
OmenOu. and no respectay of persons,
soto speak. But here was GHe iuaki,g
it u personal matter, discriminating.
as it were, against one ( the smaller
points, contrary to the inter state law.
We Instituted IL gene,al inquiry among
the citizpns. A nrw comtr from Miss
issippi assured us that it was EAGER"
not Wilson Ayer nor any Of that fam,
. lily, but just plain, old, malaria',
swamp Eager" Neatly every native
man, woman and child, however, as
serted that lager" was never known
here and that we "brouyM 1t uih us. ;"
Two days later 4 pers0Eilieu earth>
quake attacked another child, and
then there were two little EARTH
qnakes." Next u regular old bulldog,
tomcat Of an earthquake attacked the
''boss" himself, and then there was
three" The house now appears to be
chiefly, stretchy and shaky, and we
held family council and diagnosis,
and decided that the house and lot had
the lager" or the earthquake, or
whatever it is in this country. We
said so to neighbor the next day, and
he solemnly averred that we II ust be
mistaken, and that we certainly must
have ''brought 1t ,0ith us.''
That afternoon we took one of our
customary, family drives, and invited
native Santa Ba, barian to accom-
pany us. During the drive we met a
funeral procession, aud asked cur na-
tive friend if such things were of fire.
Quent occurrence. He seemed sur
Prised, and after satisfying himself
that the ''gintleman in the coffin" was
the cause of the funeral, he remarked
shat they evidently "brought 1t ,Oith
them." Death, he id, was not alto
gether unknown in this climate, but
generally persons from the States
''brought 1t eoith tte,s.''
3 A day or two after our arrival, 6
man named Lopez called a young lad,
to the gate for an interview. and after
a brief conversation, shot her dead il
her own door yard. He was jailed
and q vigilance committee went al
night to lynch him. but the sheriff hat
spirited him away. Soon after this, 1
doctor from one of The rural district.
vas Jailed here for stamping his wife
10 pieces. Next, a farmer few mile!
down the coast, discharged farm
hand, and this so displeased til,
1'hand, so wrought upon his delicat'
and esthetic nature, that he took dow,
. shot gun which he had "brough
with him. and promptly killed tn
farmer. We now began to inquire Il
to this aspect of the California climate
Our informant said that great man
vicious people came here from 9Th
States'> and drought their eril proper
sites ecith t',ens.'' The GLORIOUS eli
mate" had tendency to bring every
thing to the surface, unload the bloc
and viscera, as it were, and cleanse til
system. @@
The ''ager' made it necessary t
have ares. Now, fire is fire here, an
burns into mans pocket at tho rat
OF SIG to $40 ton for coal aid So t
SO = load for woad. We therefore el
gagged y load of uncut wood, andfoun
It necessary to order jag Of sto,