Connecticut western news., 1876-12-08


 of our visit to Florida, 1t was extremely distasteful to us to be compelled, as we certainly were by the truth, to say go many unpleasant things about what we saw in that portion of the state through which the St. Johns river flows, and which is the section that has been visited by people from the North far more extensively than the northern or western part; in fact is the region that has received their almost ex- elusive attention. The land was poor and full of ague and chills; the water of the great river was red as brick dust with its miasmal saturations the people were lazy and shiftless beyond the power of our pen to describe, and their residences Gin mos, instances) and surroundings were in sym pathy with their way of (noD doing things. Not drop of water could be had for drlnk- ing purposes but what came from the the clouds, and was saturated with filth by passing through what they called filter, ,but which when it is once in position and in running order, is never expected to be clar- flied, for they cannot conGescend to dis. turb the usual serenity (natural lnertia) of of their minds with such matters Every pound of hay to feed their horses, every ounce of beef, and almost all the food of the people is carried to them from the North; even their traditional "hog and hominey" comes from the despised |" mud sils" of the North As one of the ''chival- ry" said to us while there; somehow" said she, "our folks down here don't seem to be able to make very nice Aa'ntny and we buy it all at the Nauth." To sim ply say, "Florida hog" to one who has been there and seen the ''varmlnt" is suffi- cient to melt his countenance into smiles at once. A full-grown specimen of thls "what is it, is curiosity to behold. It Is tall, it's body and legs long and built ex- pressly for speed. Flora Temples time for straight heats is nowhere, and when we add that Long Primer type can be read through one of them on cloudy day and without specs, an impression can be gained of the amount of pork one would dress off. But then there are the green leaves on the trees in the dead ot winter, the beautiful hanging moss, the warm weather, the oranges, all- igators and niggers, all of which it pays to go and see, but to have for an instant in contemplation the idea of going there to settle. to live, makes our teeth rattle with an imaginary chill, such as crept upon us when we were in Melonvile. We were entirely unable to understand the motive Of NfN of a1r ing last winter and spring, and notably the Hartford Times, for publishing cores pondence, or what purported to be a cor respondence from northerner, which was series of letters describing the country in glowing colors, and portraying an earthly paradise in that far away and God.forsaken land inviting people from the north to form themselves into colonies and go there. etc. Three men who were induced to go from Plainville in this state, and spy out the land, wrote to the Bristol Press the follow ing letter, which speaks for itself :-
 Edward Markland, J. Hall and c. Whit l tlesey, upon representations made to them from what they considered reliable parties, went from here to Florida month or more ago on tour of inspection preparatory to settling and moving their families thither, if they were satisfied with the prospects.
 From Jacksonville they. took passage by steamer up the St. John river hundred miles or so to Georgetown, the present home of MT. Webb, formerly minister at Forestville. From this point they made tours of inspection inland in different di- rections, visiting some beautiful orange groves, where were to be seen in profusicn the fruit matured. the bud and the blossom. Upon a thorough inspection they conclud- ed that this was no place for poor man, not forgetting the remark of one who car ried their baggage from the landing at Georgetown to MT. Webb's house. " that he had never come so near starving to death in any country in his life as he had here. l, The uplands they say are not to be con- pared with even the poorest plains the lowlands are some better, yet tough and not easily subdued. They admit that if a man goes there with say $lO,OOO and buys uplands, and sets out orange trees, carts on muck from the lowlands to enrich it, wait Ave or six years for the trees to begin to bear, in from ten to fifteen years he will almost of necessity become wealthy; but for a man of less capital to undertake it, they consider the extreme of folly, as no labor, the proceeds of which will support life, as at the north, can be secured, and even hog and hominy," with now and then sweet potato becomes rarity.
 After thoroughly inspecting different To- calities and concluding that in MT. Bishops report, made to his colony last winter, the worst was not told, they returned all the way by steamer from Georgetown to New York, having as brother passengers some twelve or fifteen others who were returning from tours of inspection, having come to 8 like conclusion with themselves. The above is published at their request, as they feel that already enough have been deceived in regard to this so called Hand flowing with (anYthing bu0 milk and honey"
 shefield.-The usual Thanksgiving ser
 vice was held in the Methodist Church,
 where large congregation listened atten- lively to an excellent sermon delivered by the Rev. MT. Noble; from the text "De spise not thy mother when she is old" Il was a sermon appropriate for these polit ical times. Mir. Noble is to deliver the lecture before the Union this week. hi' . subject is announced as the "Constitution. Miss Dewey gave the lecture last week ;the subject was "The Sum-" upon which sht spoke for fifteen minutes only interesting her hearers SO much that they wished the quarter might have been two whole hours
 iustead. This is the beginning of serie!
 of short lectures, to be given by several ot our citizens, all of which will be interest , ing. Our town library is becoming quite attractive it numbers 65o volumes, and il we'll kept and we'll used, it cannot fail to b' , means of great good in our town......On Sunday last our people at the M. E. C.. were favored by the presence of the Rev Dr, McCabe. secretary of the Church ex tension society. He preached from th'