Daily Republican., 1882-06-20
OUR FLORIDA LETTER.

OUR FLORIDA LETTER.
what a Former WjlmlngeOnian
saw IN she Land Of Oranges An
Interesting Letter.
For tho Daily RBrUBLIcAN
MEssRs EDIToRs:-We are in this
quaint old town whose history runs
back to 1865 when it was founded by
Don Pedro Menendez famous Span.
ish commander with the handsome mil
itary outfit of "a sail and 26OO persons.
A fortified military post was designed
and established but since those war.
like days it has belonged by conquest
to France and England. 1t seemed to
have been coveted by all those nations
so that when in tn eeveDt ofany nation.
al trouble an expedition was fitted out
to 90 and capture st. Augustine to an
noy the enemy and thus has been the
scene of some of the most atrocious and
cruel deeds of warfare. All Of them do
not seem to have been political like
that Of Gen. Oglethrope's expedition
In the name Of South Csrolina against
Spaniards but one was pursly religious
aimed against French Huguenots who
were exterminated, the prisoners put to
death by the catholics as enemies of
God In 1868 and that expedition
III arched from this fortified pla ce dis.
tance of forty miles through the wilder
ness to accomplish such an unholy
purpose and we are glSt.- the days of
war and persecution have passed and
men have learned to live by the arts of
peace.
But st. Augustine will always be a
place of unusual interest to tourists be.
cause it takes precedence as the Oldest
American City and the only one that
WAS ever walled in, and had its iron
gates of egress and ingress as mill
tary defence. A part Of the old wall
on the north side is still standing,
with its gateway in good preservation,
having notices warning all persons
just two squares from this Gate stands
the old Spanish fort built OF Coquino
4 San Marco.
We have walked upon her walls and
marked her bulwarks and assembled in
her highest watch towers, still in a
fair state of preservation, and could
think of nothing but Spaniards and the
thousands who had lived and thought
themselves privileged tc belong to its
garrison or live by its sheltering de-
fence.
Its wall of coquino.stone are thirty
feet high inside of which is numerous
succession Of arched sealing rooms of
solid masonry say Is by 80 feet, some
in the corners are dark and dismal as
dungeons. The old ordnance is still
laying round dismounted, and piles of
solid cannon balls that preceded the
days of shells and other explosive
| missiles.
Some human mauacles iu the shape
of chains and ball, and othe fastened
in the wall could be seen, also yuan
tity of relics of demolished small file
arms. Not far distant and fronting on
the Plaza stands the Cathedral with its
Moorish bell.towers, to which the
| ringer has to ascend and handle the
clapper with his hand. On the inner
wall Is a large painting of the frs
mass celebrated here, Oct. Sth, 1865.
The Catholics still largely predomiDate
and the priests wear shovel hats and
long black gowns. The adjoining build
J ing is convent well filled, and the
doors of the church stand open for
prayer and confession all day long.
In the whites the coal black hair and
keen Spanish eye is still tracabie, and
there is still remnant that speaks both
French and Spanish.
The town has outgrown itself, and
the streets are exceedingly narrow and
unpaved. During more than two hun
dred years of her colonial history she
lived within her own military reserva.
tion, though during the long continll-
ance of the late Seminole Indian war
she stood as a citadel that could not be
taken.
Fort Marion here is garrisoned by
Major Wilkins with the modest force
of ninety men, that remind US that the
United States still lives aud rules giy-
ing promise of better days, as we see
the staff of civil engineers surveying
for new lines of railroad to connect this
place with Jacksonville and the rest of
the world. Hitherto railroads in Flo.
rida have only been spurs to connect
to some river steamboat line, but hence.
forth they are to run through and
through the State forming trunk lines
to cities of the north; meantime emf
grafton is coming in and the profits
from early vegetables this year Is going
to help populate Florida as well as the
rage for Orange culture.
am agreeably disappointed with the
climate. Instead of hardly being able
to exist in June, | find nothing wilted
by the suns rays and while last year in
Cincinnati and St. Louis people were
dying in July from sun stroke like an
epidemic, in tie former place to the
number of 40 a day a case OF sunstroke
here is unknown.
The objection to the summer here
tind is in its great duration. From the
middle of June to October is the rainy
season; two to three showers week
and they seem to come easily, not as
we have them at home that have de-
layed until some mighty accumulation
of pent up forces that have been lying
in waiting until the great event, and
bring forth sweeping tornado that
does as much harm as good.
The air tempered from the water
on either side does not get charged
with latent heat as 1t does in interior
cities that is 30 productive of physical
prostration. This is apparent from the
fact that at sundown the temperature
soon becomes cool and pleasant and
twilight is unusually short. This is
the land of political dreams unrealized,
but the future has, we think, some
thing in store to make those dreams
come true and while the health seekers
are numerous now, fortune seekers
will be as plentiful in the future.
RAMBLER.
ST. AUGUSTINE, FA., June 16, '82.