Notable among the many charming residences in San Rafael is Fairhills, a summer home of Mr. A. W. Foster. It is surrounded by a stately garden where the choicest plants abound in graceful profusion, blending one with another in a perfect harmony of colors, while the majestic trees, spreading a deep shade over the sloping velvety lawn, are reminiscent of a Warwickshire landscape. [Illustration: Dress Parade, Hitchcock Military Academy.] [Illustration: Theological Seminary, San Anselmo.] To the westward, wooded hills--truly fair hills--with their ever changing, hazy tones, are visible from the spacious veranda, and the perpetual calmness and majesty of their lofty slopes would seem to impart some of themselves to the beholder, for, as Rousseau says, "Our meditations gain a character of sublimity and grandeur proportioned to the objects around us." [Illustration: Dominican Convent.] Although essentially a resident settlement, the tourist will find ample accommodations at Hotel Rafael, sometimes called the "Del Monte of the North." Though of smaller dimensions, and with less sumptuous appointments and surroundings than the southern hostelry, Hotel Rafael, within easy access of the City, is more convenient for those who enjoy the country, yet never leave their business for its sake. While the Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks and later Gauls and Romans were weaving the first few threads of our planet's history in the old world, the aborigines of America roamed our trackless, primeval forests, boundless save for two shimmering oceans and a blue canopy overhead. [Illustration: Court House, San Rafael.] Fearless, they plunged into the thickets, swam the streams, hunted game, caught the bear and bison, trapped the fowl, and dauntlessly lived on in fear of neither nature, beast nor man--primitive--just a savage, but possessing the fundamental requisites from which all civilizations, sects, isms, or communities have been evolved--a human being with a soul. Therefore the red man is to America what the cave man is to Europe--the father of his country. In the history of our State the aborigines played an all-important part, as the founding of the missions by the Friars was with the avowed intention of reclaiming these children of the wilderness, to teach them civilization. [Illustration: Escalle Vineyard and Winery.] [Illustration: "Fairhills."]