St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1883-04-06
Letter from FIOrida.--NO. 4.

Editorial COrresPondence.l
They do some things in the south in
IA way peculiar to themselves. No one
seems to have any idea of being "on
time" Twelve o'clock may mean a
quarter of one, or even ten minutes
before twelve. To illustrate: Between
Gainesville and Ocala the train had a
hot box, with the usual delay of cool
ing off and repacking. A little while
afterwards the following conversation
passed between passenger and the
conductor: Behind time,
tonight, | presume 7" Conductor
'No." P.-"What time are you due
at Ocala 2" C.-"Seven o'clock but
we shall get in fifteen or twenty min
utes before seven" Pillow is
that?" C.-"Why, the time of run
ming is long, there are no sidings the
last seven miles and we will make il
easy" And sure enough, our party
was in the hotel at Ocala twenty min
utes before seven, the hour the train
was due at the depot
Take another instance: The train
for Citra is advertised to leave Ocala
at nine o'clock in the morning. A
quarter before nine some of the party
decided to go up to see the great orange
groves of that region, and stepping
into a carriage rode to the station,
| three-eighths of a mile away. When
half way to station we met carriages
returning and were informed that the
train had gone. AS it was not yet nine
o'clock, and as the railroad track was
in sight for quite a distance, we could
not believe the train had gone and SO
drove on to the station. Going into
the ticket Office conversation somewhat
as follows ensued: Anxious Passenger
-"Train gone ?'' Ticket Agent
"Yes." A. P.-"When did it leave p
T. Anime o'clock" A. P.-"What
time is it now ?" II. A. (glancing NJ
at clock )-"Nine o'clock" The con.
verSation which followed would not bt
proper to report here, but your CORE,
spOndent returned to his hotel will
some decided opinions about railroad
that run its train into a station twenty
minutes before it was due by it's owl
schedule, and that left the station tel
minutes before it was advertised tt
leave.
Good Friday, 1888, will long be re
membered by the party of seven. 4
ride of nine miles from Ocala by raj
brought us to the celebrated Silve
Spring. This isa pond of the pures
crystal water, perhaps two hundre,
feet in diameter and over sixty fee
deep at its deepest point, and yet 81
clear that small objects are plainly dis
cernible on the bottom. The vOlum,
of water discharged from this spring i
sufficient to float small steamboats,. A
this place we took passage in tn
steamer OsceOla, boat some fifty fee
in length, with twelve staterOOms, Civ
ing sleeping accommodations fo
twenty-fOur passengers. The boat i'm
. mediately got under way and steame
down the narrow but deep outlet q
Silver Spring. The stream is jus
wide enough to admit the passage of tn
steamer; the water is very clear, an
large and small fish are seen in abun
dance darting about in the water unde
the boat. The banks of the streaI
are heavily wooded, and the boat yer
frequently grazed the limbs of tn
trees, and caused the passengers I
duck their heads to save their hats, {
to flee unceremOniously to the cent?
of the deck. AS the boat puffed alon
its crooked way, large birds of beaut
full plumage were frightened from the
r perches and sailed away from our tC
near approach. At one turn in IL
stream all the passengers were Gale
= to one side of the boat to see a lare
mOther-bird sitting quietly on her ne
Just below the deck and so near to
that an orange could have bee
- dropped upon her back, and yet 81
moved not at the sight of the peop
nor at the noise of the engine. II
't bird was about the size of a two-thir
grown turkey, of a beautiful greyis
brown color, and her nest was ma,
wholly of sticks resting in the forks
BE- a tree.
There were eight miles of this bea
tiful Silver creek before we reach
the Ocklawaha river. Ocklawaha is
- Indian name, and means crooked wat
and no river ever had a truer nan
est 1t is one series of crooks its emit
length, and for over one hundred mil
our course was a continual capital
. The moon was at its full, and in fl
minutes after its big face would
shining directly ahead it would
'ro- shining as directly astern. Many tin
l. during this long day the boat wol