298 AUTOBIOGRAPHY 



In the summer of 1905 my son Roger and I 

 built for investment three cottages in the village 

 of Sunnyvale, nine miles southeast of Palo Alto, 

 doing practically all the work ourselves except the 

 plastering, plumbing and wiring. This work I 

 greatly enjoyed. The drive of forty-five minutes 

 morning and evening behind a good roadster and 

 the seven hours carpentering, gave me a new lease 

 on life. What joy in eating and sleeping when one 

 has done a good day's work ! 



Although I was getting rested my general health 

 was not very good and after nearly a year's treat- 

 ment by my family physician I went in 1907 to 

 Lane Hospital in San Francisco for a capital op- 

 eration. In about six weeks I was able to return 

 home but it was more than a year before I was 

 able to walk with ease and meanwhile I had to 

 have plates to support the arches of my feet which 

 had broken down because of my weakness. This 

 operation cost me $750 and with the additional 

 charges for nursing and hospital care the total 

 bill amounted to about $1,400. I am tempted to 

 digress to comment on the situation of a poor man 

 under similar circumstances. 



Although I had many opportunities to observe 

 agriculture on the Pacific Coast during my first 



