Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1878-10-10
A Home in Nassau.

PROBABLY you think my let
tiers are like angels visits, few
and far between. Well, you
. can not reasonably expect much
i literary work from Journalist
9 in the tropics, during the dog
8 days. Hot! Ishould say it was;
) but we do not have any such
: "heat waves" as have swept O.
) yer St. Louis, Chicago, Cincin-
natl and New York this sum-
mer, prostrating both man and
beast and sunstroking people to
; death. Ourthermometerclimbed
, up to about 500 carly in July,
and is too indolent to vary five
degrees either way. IN July
and August our heat was tenn
J pered by the trade winds, which,
after trayersing a thousand
leagues Of old ocean, refreshed
rs not little; but September
is a decidedly sweltcring month.
There is wind enough, in fact,
being the hurricane month. We
have roaring gales most Of the
time, but the brcczes are fat
and insipid, utterly devoid of
tonic, prostrating instead of re-
yiying one, as lileless as cham
payne when the cork has been
drawn a week.
Nassau, a brisk little city in
the winter months, is utterly
stupid in midsummer. From
May 1st until June 18th we
have it lively from the shipping
of our pineapples, nearly all of |
which are sent to the United |
States. About fifty cargoes
were shipped this season, but
they brought low prices, de-
cayed badly on the voyage, and
shippers are discouraged. A
bout three million pincapples
were shipped. The average
cost of them here was 4 cents
each, and they should have
brought II to Is cents each in
New York, instead of which
they averaged only about 4 or
5 cents, leaving a loss on hands.
About 100000 cans of pineap-
pies have been preserved at the
factories here.
Since the middle of june
Nassau has laid broiling in the
sun, with nothing to rouse her
from semi-torpid condition.
The white population stays in
the shade, which is sensible
when the thermometer regis
ters 1902 in the sun; whilst the
darkics sit on the curb-stones
and "chaw" their length of SUI
gar-cane once in two hours.
The Nassau darkey is laziness
pcrsonified. He would as soon
have the yellow fever as do a ,
stroke Of work.
BY the way, We see the South !
is being scourged by that fear
full pestilence. We have had
none here as yet. In 1869 this ,
city had run of it, but not a !,
case since. Nassau is too clean :
md tidy to be a sickly city. :
The little town is as bright and !;
is polished as a New England ;
kitchen from January to Deem I
Der. Several chain-gangs are !
1t work every day cleaning the :
streets, alleys and byways. The
streets are as hard and smooth
Is an asphaltum railway, cut out !,
If the coral rocks, making a !
rack that Ten Brock jockey |
night we'll envy. The gang !,
sweep them with brooms, and :
UGH brooms! A great bunch + +
If green twigs with the leaves =
till on is tied to a stick, and :,
his constitutes the broom, :;
Which lasts TILT wears out.
do not know which takes the .,
most time--to make a broom or -
year it out; perhaps it depends =
IL the laziness Of the mig. r r
The sewerage of the town is r,
magnificent. 1t is situated on -
he slope of a hill that over y
ooks the harbor, where two :,
trong tides each day carry all e
eposits out to sea to feed the i,
lrtles and sharks. This Mas ~
au harbor is the glory of the =
Bahamas. Bierstadt, the great II
american artist. spent winter
cfore last here, and painted a
lagnifcent picture of the har- su
or, which lie calls "1'he Tur- WI
uoise Sea" and even he could Do Jo
OF do justice to its superb
eauty. In despair he said:
/ can catch the varied colors D;
f Florida's red sunsets, but l II,
an put no color on canvas that
i'll represent the lovely water -
4 Nassau Harbor." ia
There are good reasons to be- OF
eve that the number Of Amer by
,an visitors to Nassau next Ft
inter will far exceed that Of -.
ny previous season. The :,
loyal Victoria Hotel had about U