1891] Escondite Cottage 



modest arrival commended me highly to "Steve" 

 Gage, one of Senator Stanford's cronies, who was 

 waiting with him at the station, curious to see what 

 manner of man I might be. When asked later for 

 his first impression of the new functionary, Gage 

 replied: "I guess he'll stand hitched." 



On the Campus there was then but one available A 

 house, a secluded furnished cottage to which we CaU f rnia 



i r r- 7- i_j i T^I 



gave the name or Lscondite, 1 hiding place. 1ms 

 is a picturesque little structure with rooms arranged 

 one after another in an L-shaped building of one 

 story. During our occupancy, most of the walls 

 were hung with French chintz; the whole house, 

 indeed, was modeled somewhat closely after the 

 Petit Trianon of Versailles. About it extended a 

 pretty garden with fine shade trees and a good 

 supply of water, as well as a number of fig trees and 

 a vineyard. The vineyard yielded mainly a small 

 light-green, seedless grape called "Sweetwater." 

 When Knight, not quite three years old, had tasted 

 a few of the delicious little globules, he said to his 

 mother: "I want some more of those little pills!" 

 From Mrs. Stanford we heard partial details of 

 Escondite's romantic history. It appeared that 

 some years earlier, one Peter Coutts, vaguely known Peter 

 to the countryside as "the Frenchman," had bought Coutts 

 the Matadero Ranch lying to the south of the 

 original Palo Alto estate. Possessed apparently of 

 considerable wealth, he built the Trianon cottage as 

 a temporary dwelling only, pending the erection of 

 a mansion on one of the adjacent hills. Meanwhile 

 a spacious park was being developed along French 

 lines, with a poplar avenue, a small pine forest, and 



1 Pronounced Escondee' tay . 



C3773 



