Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1907-03-19

Out at Sierra Madre, six miles away,
at the foot of the mountains, are Mrs
A. j. Rosenberg and Miss Edith. The
doctor has been with them, but lately
returned to your frozen mid West
region,
i Then one fine day along comes Mrs.
Kelly and Mrs. Bells, both with bad
colds picked up en- route. They might
easily have picked something better
one would think. The Parchers picked
up an ostrich egg at DIR. Wylie's farm
in Phoenix. After course of sunshine
and out of doors the colds dropped off.
Out of doors treatment fixes colds al
most as speedily as dislocations.
Not long after that, one day when
| was lost in book and rug, | was
hailed by Mr. and Mrs. Plumer. They
were over in the city, Los Angeles, but
next day took up quarters at the Mary
land
The last to turn up were Mr.. and Mrs
Quaw and Elizabeth Swisher. They are
staying over in the city.
MIR. and Mrs. Head called one day
The- we're making rather quick tour
and not staying long anywhere.
Me Parcher's brother-in-law, Mr..
Thomas Taylor, an old time resident of
Wausau, lives couple of blocks away,
with DR.. Weir and his wife, the latter
Mr.. Taylor's daughter
These Wausau sojourners are clannish
to degree. They have gotten together
at one place or another twice week or
so and played 500 and things O. that 500
times, more or less. DR.. Weir is the
only outsider admitted, but he is related
to Wausau by marriage so they must
needs let him in. Three tables, with one
or two over, is the rule. AS don't play
anything newer than old-fashioned
whist, and am besides inseparable for
any length of time from my veranda
| am always one of the left-overs when
the meet is here, and at other times
don't gad
But the party is breaking up and
am to be left alone. The Parchers start
on rambling return tomorrow and the
Plumers go to Santa Barbara this week
| Sunny California has rather belied
the adjective this year. The rainy sea-
son began early and the rainfall has
been well above the average. And
when it rains, it does so with the most
desperate persistence and determina-
ton Imaginable. In January it rained
for nearly three weeks and flooded the
country. Railroads and electric lines
were washed out and the very streets
of the city rendered impossible. In the
streets leading from the mountains the
| cutters ran swift streams and carried
away the board slopes leading from
curb to street at the crosswalks On
California street, just off Colorado-the
main thoroughfare-a small boy was
swept away by the current and rescued
| by man just in time. Stores were
blocked with sand bags to keep the
water out. 1t was really quite a sight
to the stranger within the gates. Off
and on since that flood there have been
lesser ones, as early this week it rained
water fell. Combined with the freshets
has been the cold weather and the
spring is consequently very late. The
far-famed California poppy, which
turns fields and slopes into a mass of
FURNISHED gold. usually early in Febru-
ary, is only now beginning to bloom,
and while to my eyes there are many
flowers, yet there is far from being the
mass and profusion of blossoms of
which we read and are told and which
belong to this section at this season.
Withal, however, there has been some
charming weather, when to be out of
doors is a delight If the sun shines at
all, it is usually warmer out than in.
California houses are not built for cold
weather and such heating arrangements
as there are, are far from adequate.
Fuel is hard to get, poor when gotten,
and costly beyond compare. Mr.
Parcher paid something like S16 90 a
cord for green wood which he had to
split almost into kindlings and dry in
rows like ten pins on sunny days before
it could be burned.
When the rain is falling in sheets,
then is the time one does not appre-
ciate veranda in California.
Wrapped up like a mummy and Gov
cred with steamer rugs till one can't
read or write with any comfort, one
longs for his Wisconsin home, his own
sitting room and fire chair and books,
where one sits in comfort, in defiance
of the wind and snow beating against
the windows. One night lately fierce
wind accompanied the rain. My cur
tains, hooked down as they we're,
tapped like a flag in gale. The wind
blew the rain against them till they
were wet. Toward morning there was
a veritable cloudburst. | fairly thought
was swamped that time, and ducked
as far under as possible. Fortunately
it didn't last long. There was even
some lightning, a very unusual thing
out here, and the thought crossed my
mind that if the tall eucalyptus at the
corner of the veranda were struck or
blown down on my roof, | would not
have anything more to bother me in
this world But | was not even
sprinkled, though my curtains were
soaked and my rug damp.
Over in Los Angeles, | believe, they
have the doubtful distinction of having
the worst streets of any city in the
country. After a rain they are indie
scribable Mr. Parcher states it in his
usual quaint and characteristic speech
He says: They're leetle too thick for
navigation and not quite thick enough
for farming" During the January
flood, a man going home late at night
was drowned in a hole in the street
near hjr aOme But of course that was