The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1880-11-30

.,,itudes of outer lares and penates it
w.s that sort of prospect which the grave
aid English writers would have called
,oOdlye, pleasant and smylynge. These
I7ls carried with them no associations of
hals. They did not in the least suggest
.g;,ations or upheavals. They only seem
a 70 be great level uplands, distended
Ike udders with a bounteous richness al
most too large for their content. And
chs indeed has always been the tone of
,hiues-not only of the hills, but of the
social life-in Tallahassee. The repute
If these people for hospitality was mat
.er of national renown before the war be-
,~een the States and even the dreadful
reyerses of that cataclysm appear to have
spent their force in vain against this
feature Of Tallahassee manners; for much
testimony since the war - to which this
writer cheerfully adds his own, goes to
show that it exists unimpaired. Genuine
hospitality of this sort is indeed as I'M
oonauerable as Zeno's problem of Achilles
and the Tortoise is unanswerable. The
Iocie Of it is that if there is enough for
zen there Is enough for eleven; and if
enough for eleven, enough for twelve;
and 80 on al i,.fntt,en' !; and this reason
NO has such mysterious virtue in it,
that II has comprised among good-hearted
folks many a repetition of the miracle of
the loaves and fishes. 1t really appears
70 have been a serious question here, just
after the war had completely upset the
whole productive system and stunned
ererr energy of the land, of what avail
would 50 little be among so many? But
no one has starved, and albeit the people
are Ioor. and the dwellings need paint,
and ready money is slow of circulation,
vet i must Ice confessed that the bounti-
fal tables look like anything but famine,
that signs OF energy cropped out here
and there, In many places, and that the
whole situation was but a reasonable one
for a people who ten years ago had to
begin life anew from the very bottom,
Eiih no capital, and with a set OF labor
e. who had gone into politics to such an
extent that their field duties were often
interrupted by taking their seats in the
legislature, or by other cares of Office
incompatible with the plow or hoe
And Of the lakes he says Z" Lake La
Favette. so called from its situation on
the estate granted to the Marquis de La
Faveite by the L nited States Lake Jack
SOB. Lake Bradford, Lake MiccOsukie and
Lake Iamonia pronounced with the Il long
and the accent on the antepenult), all
form charming objective points for excur-
siens, and offer substantial results of fine
fsh. as well as lovely views, by way OF
invitations. Wild ducks, brent and geese
are also found. often in great numbers
One Of these lakes, Lake Miccosukie, is
supposed To be the true origin of the St
Marks river The lake contracts to a
creek at It's southeastern end, and disap-
pears in the earth through one of the nu-
merous 'lime-sinks' of this portion of
Florida The St Marks hereinafter re-
ferred to) rises abruptly from the earth
short distance from here, and is thought
l. be only the re-emergence of the waters
Il the lake The environment of these
iskes Is varied and beautiful. The hills
surround them with gently-receding
curves. now with holder bluffs, now with
terraces rising one above another to the
height Of a hundred feet in all; many
gruwths of great, glossy-leaved magnO-
la. Of water-oaks and live-oaks, of hico-
II. ash, wild cherry, mock orange, glorify
The shores and between and around and
over these hang the clematis, the wood
bine. the wild grape-vines; while under
meath appear the lesser growths of the
rd-bud, the old mans beard, the sparkle
berry, the lockwood, the wild plum; and
sui beneath these the yet more lOwly,
bui not less beautiful, forms of daisies,
EiOlets, primroses, spigelia, bloodroot, and
: thousand other delicate wild flowers
and grasses; and the great 'bonnets,' a
foot and half in diameter, with their
enormous white multiple stars, and the
flags. and water-grasses purie all the
eoEes and bays in never-ending new pat
terms and fantasies"
And of the famed Wakulla Spring he
writes: About fifteen miles from Talla-
hassee is one of the most wonderful
springs in the world, the famous Wakulla
Spring, which sends off river from its
single outburst. The road to the spring
: undressing; but once arrived and
ahoai on It's bosom, one renews the pleas
ures which have been heretofore described
m what was said of Silver Spring. Like
that, the water here, which is similarly
impregnated with lime, is thrillingly
transparent here one finds again the mo-
safe of many shaded green hues, though
the space of the spring is less broad and
more Swallowed by overhanging trees
than the wide basin of Silver Spring. In
one particular, however, this is the more
impressive of the two. 1t is one hundred
Il