The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1893-04-25
THAT UNUSUAL" SPRING.

AOVOs ny EuSdI " 'GSO'I
In CALIFORNIA.
Florida is the home of the unusual
winter, but California is the place
where the unusual spring grows the
rankest. The sun burst forth with a
glad, wide smile a month ago as we en-
tered San Francisco, and people told
us We could now give u umbrellas
away.
I picked out a deserving poor man
who had no other clothing and said to
him, Here, my man, take this and
dress up" as 1 handed him a costly
umbrella marked down from 70 cents.
Here" said I to the man with the
style of clothing used by the California
candidates for the Venus of Milo, take
this umbrella and sort of primp up a
little"
Then the heavens opened at San
Diego, and another of those unusual
springs that have pursued me through
life caught me with polished shoes and
a high hat.
When you come here get a white
hat of the rancho variety. They are
made in Philadelphia, but grow to ma.
turity in this climate. 1t has an en-
bossed leather band suited to the
owners condition in life. It may cost
from 81 to $40, and the hat is $40 be-
sides. 1t is light gray, semi stiff, with
a fiat brim, and becomes more valuable
as it becomes disreputable and filled
with dust and pe~rspiration.
With one of these hats and a pair of
goat or dogskin chaps on the legs
and an eight pound spur on each foot,
also a pair of riding panties made with
a county seat to them, one is dressed
for tea OF an exhilarating ride in a
street ar.
Should you ride horseback, as some
do, in these clothes, and the horse be
molting at the time, your horse clothes
will add to the favor of the meal,
especially if you use corduroy for your
suit, as it smells more like a day in
Constantinople than anything you can
get this side of the ocean.
Long since I have ceased to reproach
the weather. The weather is what it
was made to be. 1t means well, but
very little religious advancement can
be made this spring in Southern Cali
fornia. Pastors here tell me that they
can see a noted falling off in Santa
Barbara in the attendance at the Look
Up legion here and in the Lend a Hand
society also since the weather fetched
loose.
There is a Home for Disabled Spirit
ual Mediums also at Santa Barbara,
and this spring there has been a retro
gression there bordering on i~conoclasm.
At the Do Good society's parlors
members now hold their umbrellas in
their hands, even through service, in
stead of leaving them in the hall or in
the pastors sAdy, where they can
drain into his last years sermons.
Thus they are ruined, for a sermon
should be kept perfectly dry.
I have been given by Lieutenant
Chase, of the army, a bag of seeds from
the Sequoia trees of the State. Hesays
they will grow easily in North Caro-
lima. 1 will plant them there, and
when they mature, in 6 1000 years from
this spring, and we will have a basket
picnic, after which 1 will speak.
The sequoia is like a number Of men
I have met here-chiefy remarkable
for having been here first. I subscribed
last week S. for the relief of a man
who frankly admitted that, aside from
that, there was nothing whatever the
matter with him.
I visited another ostrich farm the
other day. I can hardly keep away
from this strange bird. Ostrich eggs
are worth 1856 Is per dozen. They are
good to eat, and six of them will make
a man a meal.
The ostrich cannot be got by means
of a horse. He never runs. He just
walks; but, oh, how they do emerge
from where they were and arrive else
where!
They also do not run away in a bunch
but scatter at once in every direction,
so that the swiftest rider is beWildered.
The bird seems to raise the head, shrug
its shoulders, and with scarcely a feel
ing of interest in the chase, it just
simply swaps time for distance like a
telephone.
The only way to catch al ostrich is
to appeal to its appetite, which is its
only intellect, for its brain and body
are as unequal as those of the pugilist.
You take a sack of corn in a bag and
start out after a bird that seems to lag