L Frank Baum

The Flying Girl L Frank Baum

The Kanes had come to California some three years previous because of Mr. Kane's impairedhealth. He had been the manager of an important manufacturing company in the East, on a largesalary for many years, and his family had lived royally and his children been given the best educationthat money could procure. Orissa attended a famous girls' school and Stephen went to college. Butsuddenly the father's health broke and his physicians offered no hope for his life unless he at oncemigrated to a sunny clime where he might be always in the open air. He came to California andinvested all his savings-not a great deal-in the orange ranch. Three months later he died, leavinghis blind wife and two children without any financial resources except what might be gleaned fromthe ranch. Fortunately the boy, Stephen, had just finished his engineering course at Cornell and wasequipped-theoretically, at least-to begin a career with one of the best paying professions knownto modern times. Mechanical to his finger tips, Stephen Kane had eagerly absorbed every bit ofinformation placed before him and had been graduated so well that a fine position was offered himin New York, with opportunity for rapid advancement. Mr. Kane's death prevented the young man from accepting this desirable offer. He was obliged togo to Los Angeles to care for his mother and sister. It was a difficult situation for an inexperiencedboy to face, but he attacked the problem with the same manly courage that had enabled him toconquer Euclid and Calculus at school, and in the end arranged his father's affairs fairly well. The oranges from the ranch would give them a net income of about two thousand dollars a year, which was far from meaning poverty, although much less than the family expenditures hadpreviously been. There were other fruits on the place, an ample vegetable garden and a flock ofchickens, so the Kanes believed they would live very comfortably on their income. In addition tothis, Steve could earn a salary as a mechanical engineer, or at least he believed he could. He found, however, after many unsuccessful attempts, that his professional field was amplycovered by experienced men, and as a temporary makeshift he was finally driven to accept a positionin an automobile repair shop."It's an awful comedown, Ris," he said to Orissa, his confidant, "but I can't afford to loaf anylonger, you know, and the pay is almost as much as a young engineer gets to start with. So I'll tackleit and keep my eye open for something better.