Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 October 1891 — FLORIDA FACTS. [ARTICLE]

FLORIDA FACTS.

Which Htrattgers Are Not Prepare* by Beading: Florida Literature. [Palatkn Cc N w York Sun.] At almost any bookstore in this state you can buy a score of books, pamplets, and periodicals devoted exclusively to Florida topics. Some of them contain a good deal of information. Yet, having read all of them, the northerner in Florida is continually coming upon facts that are new and surprising to him. You may be surprised: To observe that a region which was discovered nearly 400 years ago, and is said to be so inviting to man, has found so few to accept the invitation. To find [notwithstangingallyou have read concerning Florida winters] tlio January sun so warm at midday. To find |in view of all you have read] so few wild or cultivated blossoms thriving in the sun’s rays, and so littls fragrance in them. To find so few birds, barring hawks and other birds of prey, warmed into a voiceful mood by the semi-tropical sun —to find so few birds of any description. That the duration of twilight is so brief. To find how little covering you require on your bed upon retiring, and to find how much covering you wish you had when you wake up toward morning. To see, upon going out doors, that the ground is not covered with frost, and that the flowers [such as they are] are not killed. To note how little soil there is, and how many empty tin cans there are above the sand. To see orange trees, with rich green leaves and loaded with yellow fruit, growing out of the gray sand. To cross gardens in which plants and vegetables are growing in great quantity and luxuriantly in this same sand. To obeserve that so few persons have these flourishing gardens, and to be told that not many can afford to buy the quantity of fertilizer this luxury palls for.

To find the sidewalks shaded by orange trees weighed down by tempting golden fruit. To discover that this golden fruit is wild oranges, and very sour. To be told that strangers should be careful about drinking much of the water at first. To learn Sow little self-denial the observance of this caution calls for. - To see how yellow most of the native and acclimated residents are. To discover, before long, that you are turning yellow yourself. To note how few persons there are oare past 70 years of age. To see so many idle negro men, to > erve that nearly all of them wear teavy woolen caps, and to learn that . • ir heads are still cold. To be told by so many of them that they were “bo’n in de norf.” that the negro laborers on the docks , an’t work without making such a bed,itn. i hat they can do any other work < ule making it. L’o discover that your water-tight top boots leak sand, and to he told that everybody’s boots and shoes contain more or less sand. To be forced to the conclusion that ■hi iever there is sand there are red Ills .tlso. To hear the voice of the nocturnal musquito in midwinter. to wait in vain for him to settle down ■-ml bite, so that you can get a whack iim, and to be told in the morning i t musqnitoes haven’t enough energy •■ inter to do much biting. To find yourself wondering whether ihey. too, are yellow and bilious. To be assured by a plain and candid in pearing white man that the musitoes were so thick here last summei b i they not only darkened the air at g!i noon, but put out the lamps which * re lighted in the stores. To find that there are bigger and less harmless liars than he in nearly every neighborhood. To have to fight so many flies in the uou <es in the winter. To bo told that flies do not come in <o the houses in the summer. To reflect that you permitted your•i If to be surprised at the information 1 eti it would have been so much more e.isonable to assume that your inform*nt lied. l’o come face to face in the sand? .. uderness with a pack of gaunt, bony, shaggy beasts of almost every color <1 resembling nothing you have ever ecu before. To be informed afterward that they were Mr. Julius Lemon’s shoats. To be assured that Mr. Lemon a nn family contemplate eating thei> i matelv.