St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1874-01-09
Letter from Florida.

t are pei nlltttu W 'opS S'hS N
tracts from private letter written by
Mr. Geo. W. Hopkins of this place-one
of party from this vicinity who are
spending the winter in Florida. The
letter is dated Woodland, Dec. 81.
| arrived at Welaka, five miles from
here. at three o'clock this morning
Mr.. Bailey, Mrs. Ide and myself. A
man met us there and we climbed into
/ his lumber wagon, drawn by two FlOri-
la horses lean, lank animals, fed OF
grass the year round, and worked near
/ ~ all the time. | believe they got into
Il trot once and kept it for about tive
rods the rest of the way they kept Il
steady walk. We rode from about d
quarter past three, A. NJ, till six, all the
way in the woods, with no fences and
some of the way no road, so the pro-
prietOr of the team went forward and
the driver followed on where they
thought the nearest cut was. However,
we arrived at our place in safety, and
" hen got to Il lamp had feast read
ing my letters which had got at Wei
aka. | found five letters and two Gale
donians 1t did seem good to hear from
home the first news | have had from
any one since we left Philadelphia.
| don't suppose you know anything
of my trip from New York. unless Henry
has written YOU. came by water after
day p. NJ. the 9th and did not see land
again until Friday morning. We had !,
fine trip with the exception of the first
day out. 1t was pretty rough till we
passed Cape IIatteras, and our ship,
being Il propeller, rocked continually.
whether the water was rough OF smooth.
The first day and night | felt miser-
ably, and parted with my first meal on
board; but kept about all the time
and the next day at noon felt Il great
deal better. and my appetite would SUI
prise You now. | have gained about
eight pounds since left st. Johnsbury
got into Savannah Just in time Fri
day afternoon to take the train and rode
Il distance of 236 miles, to Jacksonville.
going at the rate of about eleven miles
au hour. got there II little before
noon Saturday. Mr.. Bailey had waited
there for me. and Mrs. Idle WAS stopping
in fh.4 ,l.,,.. | N-.,n't cell
although there are about 10000 inhah-
irantS. it looks like IL little village W hen
you 90 on to the only one street on
which they do amy kind of business.
There are two fine hotels however. and
they charge four dollars per day for
board. There are very many private
hoal'ling-hon>e>. some of them pretty
fair. but the one where Mr.. Bale,
stopped and where went. Was mi>er-
dollars no furniture. no carpet and not
any Recommendations at all. The board
WIS good i'll quantity. bat WAS southern.
and didn't suit me.
y set of "CrachcI>. OF poor native
whites. were hanging about. and they
were continually throwing ont some
thing which showed they were us bitter
rebels H. ever. which wasn't pleasant
tol u> Yankees.
Tuesday morning Nj. Bailey and
took il Stcanh"at tor Pilatka. and
reached it after Il very pleasant ride "ir
johns river. at about t"ur T.. VI. We
found Il private boarding house kept
by Il northern Young man and We got
board there 1T $40. We lust enjoyed
ourselves there. Mrs. Idle took tina
steamer Yesterday morning. and We
joined her last night and reached W ella
ka as | wrote. at three this morning.
| suppose YOU have been shivcring
up there with the cold to-day. while
have been ont reading, writing. etc. III
the sun. There has been slight breeze
all day. hut very pleasant. | enjoyed
my visit at Pilatka very much indeed.
and during my stay rowed across the
river about one mile and a-half and
visited Col. Harris orange grove, of
about five hundred trees. The last Vear
it yielded over four hundred thousand
oranges. Don't you think ii grove
brings in profit Nice oranges hiring
from two and a-half cents to four, 10y
the Wholesale. The freight would he
only about II 80 to New York on three
hundred, or Il barrel. They ,,::i i,r sent
by express from there any time.