WHITHER supper! We 'ad sassages, an' fried heggs, an' 'ot biscuits, an' coffee, an' pie, an' we filled up until I thought, honest, Shorty'd eat too much. "Hafter supper the farmer took us hout to the barn an' showed us w'ere we could sleep in the 'ay, only 'e said we mustn't smoke. We didn't, neither, 'cos we didn't have no matches. "Well, the next mornin' 'e told us we could go out an' get to work pickin', an' that 'e would be out as soon as 'e got the chores done. So Shorty an' I chased ourselves out to the horchard an' sized things up. We found baskets an' plenty of trees, an' went to work on the first one we came to. We picked all we could reach from the ground, then I climbed into the tree and began throwin' them down to Shorty. We wuz gettin' along great, an' I wuz just beginning to think 43 we 'ad habout paid fer our board an' lodgin', w'en all at once the limb I wuz on broke an' went down with a smash; an' just as we wuz draggin' ourselves hout of the wreck 'oo should 'eave in sight but the old 'ayseed, jumpin' sideways. Say, 'e wuz mad! 66 'W'at the 'ell are you doin'?' 'e yelled. "Pickin' horanges,' sez I. ""Then w'y in blazes don't you use a ladder?' sez 'e. "Didn't see none,' sez I, beginnin' to get a little 'ot myself. "Didn't see none! Did you look fer one? W'ere in 'ell did you ever pick horanges before?' "Up in Klondike,' sez I-then we both ducked. It wuz a shame, too, cuz they wuz awful nice people-an' the meals wuz great." Whither BY PORTER GARNETT A traveler fared through the Land of Life, For he was weary of toil and strife, And no sorrow had he been spared. At the Gates of Happiness once he knocked, But as he wandered sadly on, Nor recked where his footsteps led, A light before him ever shone And a figure before him sped. "Oh, who art thou?" at last, he cried, "My name is Hope," the other replied, The traveler's face was straight unmasked T HE Camulos rancho, famous in romance as the home of Ramona, lies in the Santa Clara valley, not far from the picturesque little village of Piru. Of all the great ranches in Ventura county, none may be found so beautiful as the Camulos. Though once larger, it now includes about three thousand acres, mostly in bearing orchards of citrus and deciduous fruits, in groves of almonds and walnuts, in olives, figs and pomegranates, and in long stretches of vineyards and grain fields fair to see. Upon all sides are stately blue gums and graceful pepper trees, with now and then groves of silvery cotton woods, while beyond the narrow valley rises a rugged background, a spur of the San Fernando range with rolling foothills which are part of the rancho. The property is owned by Ulpiano del Valle, who inherited it from his father, Don Ygnacio del Valle, prominent in early California history. Don Ygnacio came to California from Mexico in 1825. He was second lieutenant on the staff of Echeandia, Governor of California, with headquarters in San Diego, where as Captain in command and chief Custom house officer he remained until 1833. In 1834 Don Ygnacio was appointed by Governor Figueroa in the secularization of the missions. In 1855 when the great San Francisco land grant was subdivided, Don Ygnacio, being one of the heirs, received for his portion the ranch known as the Camulos, where he resided until his death. The Del Valle hacienda, a most charming spot, has long been an object of great interest and admiration to those who travel upon the coast line road from Los Angeles to Ventura. It is close to the station-Camulos-though almost hidden by a thick growth of semi-tropic verdure. The massive walls of the hacienda are built around a patio, with tiled floors and flowing fountains, shadowed by perfumed roses, and effectually shut out from the glare of summer heats. Upon the veranda red water jars are placed and Indian bowls of gray stone, from which grow luxuriant vines of rare and brilliant bloom. Carved wooden seats add to the charm of this inner court, while peacocks strut upon the tiled walks or sun themselves along the garden walls. From this patio the eye rests upon groves of orange trees and almonds, with long stretches of apricot, pears and pomegranates, a vision in their season of fluttering pink and white, a picture of verdure and bloom most charming to the eye. A wide tiled walk, shaded by a long vine-trellised arbor, leads to a running. zanja, bordered by graceful willows, past which the waters ripple to the shining river below. CAMULOS AND RAMONA acres of land which border the Santa Clara river is in orchard fruits. Great is the fertility of the soil and marvelous the fruitage at Camulos. Pomegranates Pomegranates are shipped from this point by the carload; single orange trees produce forty boxes of fruit a season; the walnut trees are immense; in the shade of one of them one hundred workmen are often seated at table at luncheon. Soft-shell almonds yield two hundred pounds to the tree. Many of the olive trees are thirty years old and yield immensely each season. The vineyards, the grain fields and other parts of the great estate are all in the most admirable state of cultivation and produce each season crops in proportion to the yields of fruits and nuts. The Del Valle home is one representative of the time when, under the rule of the Spanish and Mexican viceroys, life was free-handed, generous, picturesque. The chapel, a part of the home, with its carved altar and confessional, has often held hundreds of Indians who were ministered unto by the Catholic fathers. Within its walls burns a light, which for a quarter of a century has never wavered, a symbol of the steady light of Christian faith which burns in the heart of the true believer. Upon the billowy foothills back of the house, the hills which in the rainy season are 45 crowned with verdure, are two large wooden crosses, planted by the first owners of the ranch, to ever remind the faithful upon this good Catholic estate of Him who centuries ago took upon Himself the sins of the world. For years they have stood in summer suns and winter rains wth silent outstretched arms, landmarks seen by all travelers as they approach the station at Camulos. They stand out in bold relief against a blue sky background and bring, perhaps, a sudden message to the tourist who, from his window in a Pullman car, catches a passing glimpse of this emblem of Christianity. Around this home, representative of early California hospitality, Helen Hunt Jackson has thrown a halo of beauty and romance which is perhaps not overdrawn, for the hacienda has stood since the early part of the century and was long the center of picturesque Spanish life with much that was truly romantic and dramatic. Ramona and Camulos will ever be associated through Helen Hunt Jackson's brief stay with the Del Valles, whom she visited by means of an introduction from Don Antonio Coronel. He gave her this letter for the purpose of obtaining material for a background for her romance. Mrs. Jackson came to Los Angeles bearing among her introductory letters one TO A SEER the one presented by Senora Moreno. Ramona is shown by the libraries to be the most popular book written upon Southern California. It has, both in this state and out of it, completely overshadowed the Century papers upon the missions, which constituted Mrs. Jackson's first work in California and which are now to be published for the first time in book form with Mr. Sandham's illustrations. Because of the great popularity of this California classic an extra illus trated edition has been issued, a genuine "edition de luxe," planned by Miss Anna Picher, director of the Pasadena Exhibition Association and acting curator of the Coronel exhibit in the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, known as "The Pasadena Ramona." The profits of this book are devoted to the fund for placing 47 a mission exhibit in the Pasadena public library and the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. The extra illustrated edition is purely a local enterprise, the books being issued only when ordered, each copy being numbered and the cost varying with the work of illustrating. The material and workmanship of this edition. gives the most picturesque and ideal setting to the compelling charm of this beautiful story of fast-waning Spanish life. Its value, too, is great as it is authoritative upon scenery and life in the south, which furnishes so much characteristic illustrative material. Through a purely artistic presentation the pathetic beauty of "Ramona" becomes more fascinating and the great charm of her life more fully appreciated. To a Seer BY CHARLES K. FIELD Last night I watched the phosphorescent foam Shot like the Milky Way thick through with stars That gleamed through wreathing mist and gleaming died. Lay floating in impenetrable space Like moonlit bits of cloud, and over all Fog-shrouded night, where we sped on apace. Oh, thou, with wide-winged soul in flight remote, Beholding under thine ethereal flight The little clouded stars that light us here |