St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1883-04-13
NO. VI.


half the time. c. NJ. 5.
NO. VI.
The irregularity and uncertainty of
the mail arrangements in Florida have
not only prevented us from receiV-
ing mail matter promptly from the
North, but | notice my letters have
been good while on the road. The
Jacksonville post Office is sufficient for
S.e regular summer business of the
town, but when ten thousand Yankees
are scattered through the state, all
writing and receiving letters, the Office
is wholly inadequate to the demand.
Florida is decidedly a Northern state
not in temperature, but in pOpula-
ton. Every Northern state is repre-
sented among actual settlers and more
are coming every year. 1t is a great
resort for invalids. Many people with
pulmonary difficulties turn to Florida,
and while some find relief if not re-
stored health, Others change their place
but keep the disease. The great won
der is that so many receive any benefit
with the deprivatiOns they undergo.
The climate is friendly, and that is all
there is on that side of the question.
The fatigue of travel is great, with ac-
commOdations crowded and limited.
1t is frequently impossible to get "A
berth in a sleeper, and many an inva-
lid is hustled off in an ordinary car, and
crowded at that. Add to these incon-
veniences the ordinary Florida bed and
food and home comforts (?) and it
needs strong constitution to endure
the strain.
find our time i'll Florida is nearly
expired and yet | have done the state
and our trip very poor justice in these
letters. They have been hastily writ
ten impressions as they have come to
my eyes and ears. 1t seems to me that
there is quite a future for this peninsu-
la state. Northern enterprise and
capital are here, and Northern people
are here, and they have come to stay
Railroads are pushed forward with
great vigor, and the state is being rap
idly developed, at least in some sec
tiOns.
| have not mentioned our visit to St
Augustine that being the oldest tow
in the United States it is presumably
well known. | could copy any number
of lifting stories from the guide
books about this city; the cruelties o
the early Spanish inhabitants, the bar.
barities of the Indians, the many mas,
sacres in the name of the ROmisl
church what is the need If the
reader wants the horrible let him read
"FOx's Book of Martyrs" or the ere.
port of the Committee on the Conduct
of the War;" including Andersonville
with photographs of Union prisoner,
rescued from that living death only to
die over again before they reached
their Northern homes.
Nevertheless Augustine should b,
visited by every one coming to FlOri
da. Its military fort, with casemates
bastiOns, heavy gates, dungeons, para
pets, just as they were made one hun
dred and fifty years ago-its sea-wal
of solid masonry a mile i'll length anC
broad enough for promenade it
narrow streets, so narrow that in pia
ces it is impossible for two ordinary
wagons to pass-(the street in front o
one of the principal hotels is only thir
teen feet and ten inches from fence t.
fence, and it tapers out at the lowe
end to seven feet)-its quaint inhabi
tants, Negroes, Minoncans, Spaniard
and white folks-all these things Civ,
it a foreign air, and can nowhere els
be seen to better advantage on this sid
of the water.
st. Augustine is one of the best win
ter resorts in Florida. 1t has som
good hotels and nice people. Here W
met Captain House of Enosburgh, q
the old Third Vermont regiment, whom
so many readers of the CdledORidn vii
remember during the camp of the regi
ment at st. Johnsbury in May an
June, 1861. The captain is keepin
the Sunnyside hotel, and right good
home-like place it is, while the host
as kind and genial as ever. The cap
tain was obliged to come here for hi
health this he recovered, and now
is showing this slow going people wha
genuine, live Yankee can do. H
has been mayor of the city, and ha
built most of the best buildings {
which the town boasts, including il
largest hotel.
st. Augustine, like most SOuther
towns, is built around a square, {
plaza, as they call it here. This pla2
contains only about two acres of Ian
and is unoccupied except by an Ol
Spanish monument, the COnfederat
, monument, and the old slave market
| long, open building, which was use
as a general market as well as an au'
tiOn block to sell slaves from in SLAYER
days. This market, the city gates an
E Fort Marion are really objects of niue
e interest, and cannot fail to awake
: thoughts of bygOne times which ten
t to make the beholder grateful that h
e life came in the time of a more az
5 vanced civilization.
e At Augustine we met E. B. Within
Esq, of ingtOn,-formerly pul