ON EARLY YEARS IN SANTA ROSA 



For the time being I must seek work wherever it 

 could be found, and do any odd job that offered. 

 I recall that on one occasion I heard that help was 

 wanted on a building then in construction, and 

 on applying was promised a job if I would furnish 

 my own shingling hatchet. I spent my last dollar 

 in purchasing one, and on returning found to my 

 bitter disappointment that the job had been given 

 to another applicant. 



This was but one of a good many episodes that 

 were well calculated to dampen enthusiasm, and 

 cause me to question whether I had acted wisely 

 in leaving New England. Yet I doubt whether I 

 ever regretted my decision. For the spirit of 

 dogged persistency and of obstinate effort in the 

 face of difficulties is a heritage that the pioneer 

 breed of New England transmits almost unfail- 

 ingly. Whatever the son of Puritan ancestors may 

 lack, he is almost sure to have a full endowment 

 of the basal instinct of sticking to it. 



There were times, however, when, whether or 

 not the spirit faltered, my physical constitution 

 was in jeopardy. In the fall of 1876, I secured 

 work in the nursery of W. H. Pepper, at Petaluma 

 — one of the first nurseries in California, estab- 

 lished in 1852 — ^where I worked throughout the 

 winter and into the following spring. Here I oc- 

 cupied a room over the steaming hothouse at 



[67] 



