The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1883-03-31

/ in Mississippi, on plantation that was
devised to him by Il Southern lady, who
admired him greatly, and pitied him in
his poverty. But there is another per-
sonage whom | heard spoken of by the
Southern people; whose name was on the
| lips of many people. and who, | imagine,
was greater than either Alexander II.
| Stevens, Jefferson Davis, Governor Wise,
Stonewall Jackson or Robert f. Lee and
sich, and whose name | heard SO fire.
quently and oil all occasions, that | be-
gan to think it belonged to greater per-
sonage than either of the aforementioned
every mouth, and was spoken on almost
every occasion, and under every pretext.
Her name was "Helen Damnation.'
Well, the Southern people will be curl
Gus, and their affections will run in
strange channels.
From Savannah We went to Jackson
vile, Florida, and Immediately after our
arrival there we went down the st.
Johns river in boat to Palatka. | was
always under the impression that the st.
Johns river was a little, narrow, muddy
stream, but it is noble river. wider than
the Susquehanna; its waters dark in
| color. and what seems so strange about
it is that it appears to run up hill, for it
| flows directly to the northward. Palatka
is town beautifully situated on the St.
Johns river. The streets are wide, and
for shade they use the orange tree, which
at this season of the year is loaded with
golden fruit. But if you want to save
| -, you had better not pull one of them;
for if you do they will jerk you up as
quick as if you kicked Il buzzard in
Charleston, and for this reason | don, t
| particularly see the difference between a
| buzzard and an orange. But il you
want luscious orange, pulpy, juicy,
| sweet; walk down to the river, make
yourself acquainted with Mr.. Hart, tell
him what you want and you will get it.
You will see oranges there of all sizes.
| Don't gouge into the orange as if you
were cleaning chickens gizzard but
| take sharp knife and pare it like an
apple, throw away the rind; then remove
the kid glove skin, and you have the red
pulp, rich, juicy and sweet, and then -
an orange should be eaten before ] went
to Florida. Now | know. And the
orange groves. How pretty they look:
| SO clean and fresh; their green leaves;
! their yellow fruit; how luscious. From
| Palatka we went down the Ockla waha
river, which is the crookedest river in
how a river could be more crooked and
lie in its bed. The boat had stern
wheel, which kept upa continual growl,
as though Gliding the river for being 50
crooked; and the terrapins, the aliigators,
and the slim-legged cranes would all
wink at us as We passed by; for they
puncture their sides with lead-that they
had as much right to be there as we had,
and perhaps better right; but OCCASION
ally terrapin would slip of a log and
plump into the water, just to show how
| slick he could do it. | can't imagine
what good there is in an alligator. For.
in the first place. they are as ugly as
| possible; they are not good to eat, and
pass the whole day on a log, pretending
to be fast asleep. But don't fool your
self, please. He is only playing possum.
He would snap you up quick. On our
return homeward several ladies had little
alligators, which they were bringing up
with them, but know they will be sorry
after awhile that they did not leave
| them alone in their marshy joys. The
palmetto trees. How pretty they locked.
| Tall and straight as an arrow, with
rough bark, curiously interlaced. and
only a green tuft at the top. How |
would like to have two of them to plant
in front of my home, but tranSplanting is
certain death to them. About six o'clock
in the evening we met the retr ning
boat, and Bob thought We had about
enough of the Ocklawaha river, and asked
the captain if he would not stop the boat
and let us get on the approaching boat,
| SO that we could return back again to
Palatka. The captain, who was every
inch gentleman, readily gave his con-
sent, Bob was willing and SO was |. The
captain made the whistle give two OF
three peculiar snorts, which were an
swered in the same manner by the APP
preaching boat. The hands tied our
little steamer to a tree; the terrapin
turned tail and pumped into the water;
the alligator slowly opened and winked
at us with one eye, the long-legged crane
gave frightful squawk, and as the boat
approached Bob and jumped and land
ed safely on it, and we were soon return
ing to Palatka.
| The first person We met who had a
familiar eountenance was Dclaplain Nc
Daniel. He has been travelling in the
South and | would not be surprised il
before he returns he should purchase one
or two or perhaps a half a dozen orange
groves. We arrived at Palatka again
about 8 clock in the morning. We had
to take the clock boat the next morn
ing for st. Augustine. 1t did not ap-
pear to me that | had more than ten
minutes sleep by the watch, when We
were summoned to breakfast. After a
hurried breakfast We went to Tocoi by
steamer, and from that point We went by
rail to St. Augustine, distance about q
miles, | should judge. St. Augustine Is
reputed to be the Oldest town in the
United States. The old fort of San
peculiar interest, but | cannot clearly
make up my mind which is the greater
curiosity, the old fort or the old guide.
| The fortress was commenced in 1920 and
was completed in l756. It is quite large
and is built OF a peculiar shell-stone
called c0chiHG, and when freshly cut has
flesh "olored appearance and resemb les
an innumerabie quantity of small cream
coiored shells imbedded in plaster OF
Paris, aud when the fortress was newly
built it must have presented a beautiful
appearance, especially when the sinking
sun threw its warm mellow light over it.
But now the storms of century have
darkened the walls, but like an aged
| veteran il has not lost one lot or title OF