The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1876-12-19
FLORIDA.
A Graphic letter from the Land
of FIOwers-Its Beauty, Soil, CHI.
! uAanIn. md FruitS.

NEW SMYRNA, FLA, Dec. 7, 1875.
The word "Florida" seems invested
with magical power capable of insplr-
ing that delirious thirst for Information,
which the necessities of to-day beget for
the adventurous pioneer and the de-
spairing invalid.
shall endeavor to paint the subject
candidly and truthfully.
To this point, in the beginning of the
sixteenth century, sailed Ponce de Leon
upon his chimerical adventure. Land.
ing near st. Augustine, the exuberant
vege tation of Spontaneous growth that
confronted him in rank profusion had
nearly the effect to dement, the voyageur
into believing that he had actually come
upon the locus of the mythical fountain,
the waters OF which would perpetually
rejuvenate the falling frame OF man.
Extravagant stories of this modern Ar
cadia were conveyed to Spain, and in
tensest interest centered about the
Gland of flowers" Its written history
teens with exciting interest; but the
unwritten history is pregnant with ro.
nance born only amid such surround
ings OF perennial beauty, to some OF the
avenues of which l shall endeaVor to
| conduct your readers.
| The fundamental maxim Of law is that
"Man shall pursue his own true and
substantial happiness." And since, in
the ordering OF Gods law, the sacred
precincts of home are designed to he the
| germ center in which are formulated,
and from which are radiated, the essen
tial elements of human happiness, il
follows by the analogy of reason thai
his home should be found wherever car
be massed the largest array of contribu
tory resources for the perfection Of thai
happiness. Man is not simply an anima
creation, or automatic mechanism
lectuaI perceptions, by which he may
look up to the Great Law-giver, and thai
refinement Of aesthetic taste, through
which he may articulate with the Sub
| n
but an affirmation of divine wisdom
since, if the object of mans creation
freally was the evolution OF a being
destined to future companionship witt
the Creator, it is well that in his con
| struction the inner sight should have
been bestowed. without which eacL
conception of the great artist is dwarled
and superficial.
For TINS and other reasons, there have
been scattered here and there upon the
earth those gardens OF perennial Verdure
| which do family shadow out the eterna
spring-time of Immortality. And among
| these indices to a luture era of perpetual
sunshine, none appeal more strongly tC
the conviction OF sense and the persua
sion Of mind than that portion OF natures
garden IN which invite your readers to
| walk with me.
There is pathetic story that poor
child, accustomed all her life to the SOM
bre shading Of the home OF poverty, was
removed to the home OF "A phllanthro-
pisL. And, as the unusual burst OF
seeming splendor presented Itself to her
| untutored eyes, blinded beneath th e
magic of the transformation, and awed
| by the presence of sucn beauties as she
had never dared to dream OF. she asked,
with hushed solemnlty: "Mamma, is 1t
Heaven" So too, the older child, who
mas been smut up within the prison.
house of Northern Winter, with absent
vegetation and cheerless light, and mind
infected with morbid hypOcnondria, in
duced by tue despairing wall OF savage
winds, will, wnen transported to the
Lheater of natures loveliness. kneel
down beneath our tropic sky, doubtful
| but tnat the necromancy OF Natures art
has revealed to his astonished vision the
real Elysium, amid the subilmating in
| fluences OF which the soul shall revel
lor all eternity. For they are here-Ghe
Influences that lit up man to something
more than the prosaic surroundings OF
daily Lille.
| The graceful fawn, leaping within the
glades of freedom, the tinkling rill, the
orange blossoms OF our Southern home,
the fragrant groves of pomegranates
| lines and troplc offerings, the balmy
softness of the tropic air, the rich, sweet
languor of perennial incense, the gOr-
geous splendor of the setting sun, the
songs OF birds, the scent OF flower all,
| all proclaim that God is here. Anu, as
you stand at even, with uncovered head,
haLhed liz the mellow glory OF the dying
sun, with tiara ON your brow which
none but he can lend you, while all ap.
peals to sense, you feel, and see, and
know that here exists the very GOD OF
nature.
1t would almost seem invidious for me
TO draw a distinctive line between the
various points OF natural beauty IN. our
State. l can not cite TO you the rugged
scenery of the Blue Ridge. 1t is differ
ent in it's form, but none the less engag-
ing. 1t is not grand, like the mountains,
where one may feel lifted up into the
| Majestic Presence, not even touched
with the radiance of His glory, but only
illumined with u smile from the Great
Heart of Love.
The river st. Johns, running north
east through the peninsula ana entering.
| the sea near Jacksonville, after couls
Of three hundred miles, is to my mind
one Of the crowning glories of our State.
Grand and majestic IN its stately march
to the Atlantic-as placid as the sea OF
glass beheld by the Evangelist-its every
mulmur, and the graceful ripples that
bow its crest as the soft east winds nod
to it, seem to breathe out the soul of
Reace. Even the pendent boughs that
| shade its graceful margin are constant
| ly responsive to the eternal proclama-
| tIon OF the deep-deep calm. The resin
GUS odor OF the pine, the heavy, amor!
Gus scent OF the magnolia anu the spiced
fragrance tofthe tropic fruits blend all
their mellOWness together in one rich