The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1869-04-10
Under the Orange.Trees.
BY HARRIET BEECHER STOWE.

choice OF three ways OF travel. For
people of marine tendencies there is a
weekly steamboat, which takes the out
side passage via Atlantic Ocean. This
is simply going out to sea once more,
and the passage occupies twcnty-four
hours. The boats are very good, set
comfortable table, and are well conduct
ed Then there is the inside passage,
which takes through the sea islands to
Fcrnandina, and thence out through
about forty miles of ocean tunnel to the
mouth of the st. Johns River. The
boats on this, though necessarily much
smaller, are very well furnished and
conducted.
/ In bright, calm weather, this inside
passage is especially enjoyable, and to
be recommended to those travellers
whose object it is. to See as much as
| they can of the distinctive features of
t Southern scenery. The channel often
becomes very narrow, and the boat
sldes so near the shores of these
islands that the individual trees and
flowers are distinctly seen, and here
and there one may almost reach forth
and pluck them. The disadvantages of
this passage are that in foggy or
stormy weather the boats must neces-
sarilv be detained. They are the light
est draught river-boats, which could
not live half an hour in storm at sea,
and can only make the entrance of the
st. Johns River in clear, calm weather
: Tie entrance of the St Johns is
through narrow channel, marked out
! on either side by buoys, which cannot
/ be Gisccrned in fog. On either side
of this channel is sand-bar The
! sand-bar is the only obstacle in the
way of the navigation of this beautiful
river. Once across it, the way is clear
and triumphant.
/ No sight can be more joyous and
beautiful than that which opens as the
wide shores of the river suddenly I'M
fold before the view. The intense blue
of the waters, the singular contrast of
| the shores, which are of fntv, snowy
sand, and out of which rise cabbage
palms and long-leaved pines, all con-
tribute to the singular effect On
either side white breakers are combing
over the sand-bar, and rows of penguins
stand ON them, drawn up in regimental
ranks, like so many sentinels of the pas
sage The st. Johns is about seven
miles wide at its mouth, runs south
ward, parallel with the ocean, for a
hundred or two of miles, and gradually
Il RI nt, To OF In kD
upper part it seems more like a broad
lake, enclosed by woody shores. The
fragrance of the orange orchards upon
its waters is one delightful accessory
to the sail in the early spring The
orange foliage can well be discrimina
ted amid the wooding Of the shore from
the vivid intensity of its green. 1t is
the very green that Dante must have
had in his mind as the color of the
angels robes-the green of the fresh
young buds of spring.
However, our approach to Jackson
! vile at this time was not made by the
triumphal entrance of the ST. Johns
River We had, indeed, engaged our
passage on the Nick King, the inside
passage-boat for Tuesday morning, but
a heavy fog coming up, with signs Of
a storm, we straightway all changed oul
plans, and resolved to try the third
mode of conveyance-to wit: the rail
road. At the depot the next morning
we found very wel[kept breakfast
room, wi here the tables were neat, the
cooking good, and where the walters
seemed all eye and ear and anxiety tc
secure your comfort. Thence we were
speedily transferred to the Hattie. lit.
tie river-boat, and under weigh for Man.
DARN The boat was we'll crowded
with passengers, all Northerners, max
ing the usual spring tour. This is
getting to be regular affair now. By
the end of February we get tired of ice
and snow. Winter is good, bracing
invigorating affair for a certain time
But after that one begins to feel that
there is too much of it, and then oul
locomotive tendencies begin to suggest
to us the example of the fowls of the
air, who fly northward and southwark
as the weather suits them This spring
like TIE winter it follows, has been an
exceptionally cold one for the Southern
climate, and people who have come
with high-raised expectations of plung
ing at once into the balmy sweets Of
summer find themselves disappointed.
1t is amusing to see how e1acting
human nature becomes under these cir
cumstances. People who at the North
would accept their annual March snow
storm and have their hats blown of
and their noses pinchcd without muir,
muir, here become quite petulent about
foggy, chilly morning. This climate
"ish't any better than the North as
they can see"-yet they live in rooms
without fires, and walk out daily and
see orange-trees in blossom, and violets
and blue iris and azalias in bloom, and
every day or two is like July in soft
ness and sunshine.
But we want it ALL sweet-ALL sun
shine and no clouds. We want to find
oranges on the trees and orange-blos.
SONS. We want to find the green fields
of the North under the tropical sky OF
the South we want to find well ser
we'd New-England table in the wilder.
ness and when we get all these things
united, we will condescend to be
pleased, if the good Lord will be very
careful to keep the weathers even and
have the sun shine all the time-al.
though even that might lead to drouth,
and therefore we must stipulate for a
shower every night. Under these cir
cumstances, we might consent to think
ourselves pretty tolerably we'll off,
The fact is, that people, in coming to
new country, have got to make up
their minds NOT to have all the conven-
iencies of life that they had in the old
ones. The worst complaint of invalids
is very generally the DISPOSITION to
complain, and that will find exercise
under the balmiest skies. But the trav-
cling influx is having its usual result
in improving accommodations. We have
been here at the same time of the year
for three years in succession, and notice
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