The Saint Paul globe., 1904-06-26
Country UilIdges'
UhOSe Inhdbitz
ants LiOe the
Same Life They
LiDed OUer Sea

study their ways of living
He may find samples of foreign life
whole towns of it, within few hours
journey Of his home.
California is the State of foreign
colonies; not foreign quarters in large
cities, as in New York, but country
villages whose inhabitants do not
often see Americans. and whose chill
dren grow up, speaking English with
a strong accent, if they learn to speak
it at all.
Three miles outside San Francisco
is a colony of Italians of several
thousand population. Within the last
few years the city has spread out
ward and taken this colony within its
suburbs. but not long ago you could
stand in the middle of this settle
ment and you could see no house that
was not Italian. But even now the
settlers refuse to be absorbed.
Going over the low hills that sepa-
rate San Francisco from San Miguel
county. a stranger is greeted with a
view strikingly unusual. The fat
valley below is speckled with hundreds
of huge windmills, rapidly revolving
on a breezy day-not American wind
mills. but the windmills of old Italy,
made of wooden frames and canvas
sails. So close together are these
whirling crosses that the whole valley
seems in motion.
Among the windmills are scattered
small. red and green cottages, sur
rounded by big garden patches laid
out in the systematic Italian style.
The fields are separated by bitches of
running water, kept full by the count
less windmills.
A Cabbage Producing Village.
Descending into the village you find
the houses laid out along streets and
lanes. These are the homes of the
Italian vegetable gardeners who sup
Dlv ali San Francisco with carrots,
turnips, cabbages, lettuce, pumpkins
every kind Of vegetable. There are
may see cabbage heads as far as the
eye can reach.
Every morning, just at sunrise, a
string Of wagons half a mile long may
be seen creeping out of the settlement,
much like the old emigrant trains of
the early ffties. They hang together
as though afraid of attack from In
dians. In this way San Francisco
markets are supplied with vegetables.
If you were to address one of the
villagers in English, he might be able
to answer you yes" or mo-" but be-
yond that English would be foreign
language to him. The women above
a certain age never speak English, al
though the settlement is thirty years
old. Lately a school has been estab-
lished in the community, so now the
children are learning English with the
rudimentary studies of a country
school.
Not much farther from San Fran
cisco than the Italian settlement, but
ten times more inaccessible, On a
small island across the bay, is the
most foreign colony in California
Few San Franciscans even know of it
The writer was out sailing on Sar
Francisco Bay one day with friend
We were coasting along the hilly
shore of Contra Costa, when suddenly
strange craft numbered out from be-
yond a point of land ahead of us. L
was nothing less than Chinese junk
lust as it is pictured on tea chests
AS we drew near we could see that
she was the genuine thing, even tc
the shaven-headed coolies aboard.
A Chinese Fishermen's Village.
We knew then that we were neal
the Chinese hshermen's village o
which we had only vaguely heard, al
though we were both San Francis
cans. We determined to visit it
Judging that the settlement must b.
somewhere in the inlet whence th'
Junk had come.
We rounded the point and entered
a shallow bay Further in rocked th'
peculiar mat sail of another junk, anC
along the shore were score of bare
legged coolies running about will
baskets. AS we approached, the roof
of a group of small huts appeared
above the rib of a hill, then gradual,
we saw several dozen of half board
half bamboo shacks on stills.
Our boat touched shore below tn
crowd of jabbering coolies, and w
landed. The sail of the junk dropped
and the Cinnamon hauled it in, almos